Not On Your Life
by MarvelsWonder
Summary: Rogue knew from the moment she saw the look on her friends faces that she was in trouble, three teenage mutants on a trip to New Orleans was bound to be a disaster.
1. Chapter 1

Rogue knew she was in trouble the moment she saw her friends matching grins, Kitty and Jubilee were masterminds when it came to hatching plans that could emotionally scar her for life, seeing as things never seemed to go well for Rogue. And a week in New Orleans didn't sound like it would be much different. It was just what she needed they had said After all it was only Mardi Gras and they were _almost _eighteen, with the id's that a talented mutant had provided what could possibly go wrong? Storm, knee deep in paperwork had mentioned that getting to know the city's history would be a great idea especially with the _slightly_ exaggerated explanation of a learning experience Kitty had provided, and why not take a vacation?

They sure as hell deserved one with all that had been going on lately with the failed cure. It had secured Rogue and Bobby's breakup, and no one had been surprised when Kitty and Bobby had been going all PDA in the foyer less than a month later. Still, Kitty and Jubes had been her best friends from the start, and she couldn't bring herself to hate her, no matter how jealous she was.

"Kitty!"

"Three minutes!"

And so here she was, waiting by the entrance with Jubilee for a certain valley girl to show up. Something that wouldn't be entirely bad if they hadn't already been waiting for _an hour and a half_, trying to make their flight.

"Okay, okay I'm here," Kitty smiled, out of breath "I've got my stuff together-"

"This _stuff_ wouldn't have anything to do with why Bobby's looking so pleased, now would it chica?"Jubilee winked, causing a blush to color the couples faces.

Rogue rolled her eyes trying to ignore the churning in her stomach; it wasn't necessarily that she was hung up on Bobby she was just hung up on the whole _not touching thing._

_No worries my dear, they are weaker than you and not worthy of someone with your-_

_Stop._

This was another reason for her friend's insistence of a trip. The fact that she didn't have a telepath around to help clear her head of pesky invaders had her tense and needing relaxation. Badly.

"Oh my gosh, like, we're late come on you guys!" Kitty rushed forward, doing her best to drag the other two forward, including her three oversized bags.

"Fine Kit we're coming, we're coming, no need for force," Rogue squirmed her way out of reach, readjusting her gloves. _This is not going to go well, _she thought to herself. Going on a trip was one thing, obtaining fake id's was another, going to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and with lethal skin no less, was something else entirely.

It was a disaster waiting to happen.

TBC

AN- Okay, so I've never actually written a fic before, so be gentle. But you can tell me if I really suck, seriously.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**-No I don't own them or it wouldn't have taken so long for Gambit to show.

"Please remain in your seat until the seating light turns off."

Rogue tensed as the plane started up, grabbing the right armrest and leaning away from the larger passenger to her left. Jubilee and Kitty gave her sympathetic looks from the other side of the compartment, of course she was the one who got to sit next to the oversized passengers. Fifty-something-year-olds who had started snoring before the flight had even begun.

_You know you could just shove 'em over or something, maybe light a match that's enough incentive to move seats. Just a little flame, they have air filters, why not? One of those pretty little flight attendants probably confiscated a-_

Rubbing her forehead, Rogue sighed, "'Excuse me sir, could you scoot over?"

"Huh, yeah sorry," the man shifted, not actually making it any further away. Most days Rogue wished that she had female sociopaths in her head instead of the overbearing men she had accumulated. At least they would have given her more subtle ways to get others to _back off._

Taking out her bag, she took out her iPod and turned up the volume. She took a glance at her new ID, Sophie-Ann it said, age 19. They had decided that there wasn't much a chance of Kitty passing for 21 so they went for just over legal,_ something that might get us off the hook a little when this all goes to hell._

Jube's had decided on the names, when Rogue had complained she had gotten a raised eyebrow and the response of "Well, if you don't like it you could just use your _**real**_ name, which would be…."

So Sophie-Ann it was, a name that they had said `sounded southern,' and suited her, and apparently their names -Sasha and Monique- `normal human names' they informed her, were much more normal than a Kitty and a Jubilee.

"Please return your seats to their upright positions and turn off all electronics; we should be landing within the next fifteen minutes."

Winding up her headphones she thought about how the week would go. She had seen the girl's smirks when they thought she wasn't looking, something was up.

****

"Okay, so, like, we'll get settled in tonight and then tomorrow we'll do something educational and then we can totally have fun for the rest of the week!" Kitty flopped down on the bed and grinned at Rogue; Jubilee had set her stuff down with Kitty's and gone to shower.

She knew that it was for the best but she couldn't remember the last normal sleep over she had been at where she could sprawl out on the same bed with other girls, giggling over boys and make up and what-not. Giggling still ensued, but over who had looked the best during training, or how good Piotr looked after an hour's workout.

"And this one museum is going to be our cover for the week?" Rogue looked over from her book to Jubilee, surprised at the girl's ability to see reasononable consequences.

"Of course, what could go wrong with a museum?" Kitty replied absentmindedly.

"Kitty!"

"What?!" Kitty looked up and rolled her eyes, "Oh fine," reaching over she knocked on the wooden end table."Good enough?"

"Thanks Chica, can't have our trip going bad now can we? By the way, I asked about some food and the receptionist says they can bring something up, so we'll order pizza, kay?"

Rogue nodded, a bit disappointed. One of the reasons she allowed them to take her down here was for the southern cooking she hadn't had a whiff of in years, she had figured her friends tastes wouldn't be as accommodating as hers to the food she craved so she'd just have to go out and find something good herself.

"I'm gonna take a shower, anyone need the bathroom?" Both girls shook their heads no and Rogue took her bag and headed towards the bathroom.

***

"What have you done?!" Rogue screamed, running out to the room in her towel, not much could get her to present herself in only a towel, to her this was a damned good reason.

None of the clothes her bag were clothes that she had packed.

And seeing as the room was empty, she knew exactly who was responsible. There were only two girls who would even think of replacing all the clothes that she had packed. Picking up the receipt lying on top of the pizza, she read the writing on the back;

_Rogue,_

_We'll be back soon, really it's just, you're like, you know, probably freaking out and it was for your own good. ;)_

_-Jubilee and Kitty_

Rogue turned over the receipt and looked at the signature. _Sasha_. Seriously, now how many people out there were named Sasha? Monique maybe, but then Sophie-Ann? Her friends were over the top, and not in a good way.

Rogue rifled through the clothes and realized some of them were in fact hers; if not for the whole killer skin thing she might have actually wanted to wear them. The tops all mostly covered her arms, leaving room for longer gloves; a few of the gloves didn't have fingers and looked like they wouldn't be effective if she was trying to keep her skin from others. Rogue had found a few skirts as well; her friends had probably figured out that she'd be on the next plane out with anything higher up than her knees so everything was modest, if not unconventional for her.

And then there was the cleavage issue. Everything showed cleavage, maybe not as bad as what most teens wore, and not that many people would be grabbing at her, but it still wasn't what she was used to, showing skin wasn't easy but the girls had thought ahead and provided her with every accessory imaginable that she could cover herself with. Necklaces, anklets, and rings, that wouldn't go to waste.

_I say you wear 'em, if you've gotta wear clothes at all, you'd look hot Rogue._

_Shut up._

Rogue found that she still had her preferred Pjs, long sleeves, long pants, and everything that would make a night in a muggy New Orleans miserable.

*******************************

"Shhh! She's still sleeping!" Giggles occurring shortly after this, only accomplishing in bringing Rogue further out of her sleep.

"My god do you two ever shut up?" She groaned rolling over to see just _what _exactly was so amusing.

"No!" More giggling ensued, bringing a small smile to her face, grumpy or not she couldn't help but be affected by their contagious laughter.

"We were discussing the, umm, attractiveness of some guys we ran into last night," Kitty said. "They were totally my type in that cute guy-with-an-accent-even-though-I-have-a-boyfriend sort of way."

"Yeah, in that sort of way," Jubilee nudged her with a grin and looked up at Rogue, "So are you cool with the clothes?"

Rogue gave a heavy sigh, blowing the hair out of her face, "Depends, Y'all planning on doing my Chem. homework for the next month?"

Jube's grimaced, looking over to Kitty, who nodded brightly "Of course, my IQ's probably way higher than either of yours are anyway."

Needless to say this resulted in a pillow fight and additional charges to the hotel bill for damages.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer-**I want Remy, but I don't own him or any of marvels things, but I would if I could. Anything recognizable isn't mine, I swear.

It was hot. And of course it was going to be hot it was New Orleans, probably the most _awesome _city to be in for a good time and Mardi Gras. But Rogue wasn't thinking of that right now, because she was wearing a stupid a shirt that went down to her elbows,_ and_ gloves, _and_ jeans, and for some unknown idiotic reason she was _wearing closed toed shoes._

And it was _hot_. Which was the reason why no more than twenty minutes after they had left the hotel she found herself willingly entering a high end clothing store with Jubilee and Kitty, spending her money on what in her opinion was an overpriced scrap of clothing. Kitty had pointed out that she and Jubilee were wearing much less, and that she shouldn't feel so uncomfortable. Rogue had gone with a light green sundress that ended a little below her knees and the cheapest sandals she could find in the store. She'd complained that she was bound to leave a trail of dead bodies in her wake wearing that, and after the saleswoman was done with her double-take she had handed over a pair of ballroom-type gloves and ushered them out of the store.

Comfortable at last, they made their way toward Jackson Square trying to put on serious faces and actually learn some type of educational information to bring back to Ms. Munroe.

"So there's suppose to be a cathedral or something around here where you could probably take some pictures for Kurt, and then an art museum or two that we can tell 'Ro about." Jubilee said, looking at a map trying to figure out exactly which way would get them to the cathedral.

"Is it just me, or are we trying too hard to learn something?" Asked Kitty, looking over Jubilee's shoulder.

"We should be heading that way" Rogue pointed out, "And don't tell me I'm wrong, because it's pretty much the only direction we haven't been in."

"We should go get something to eat first, I'm hungry,"

"Me too actually," The two linked arms and looked over to Rogue who sighed and relented.

"It's already taken you two three hours to leave the hotel, weren't we planning on having some fun tonight?"

"It's only 12o'clock, no need to worry, besides someone might actually get the impression that you _want _to go to some stuffy museum," her yellow-clad friend winked and gave a little skip to her step.

Once again a stab of envy hit Rogue, she could join arms with her friends, a simple gesture but why take the chance?

_Is it really worth accidentally killing one of them? Having one of your best friends stuck in your mind forever, hating your very-_

"Hey!" Rogue stumbled back, "Jerk, watch where you're going!"

"My apologies _chere,_ Remy was not watching where he was going."

Rogue could have sworn her heart skipped a beat then, the man's accent alone could have done that alone though, looking into his face she felt a flush rise up to her cheeks.

"_Chere,_" the man grinned, "what's such a _belle fille _such as you doing in a place like this?"

Rogue was floored, here was a gorgeous man with a gorgeous accent, and that was the best he could come up with? The `What's a girl like you' line? In the middle of the day on a popular and crowded street?

She studied him for a moment, taking in his appearance. He was taller than her, maybe about 6'1 with nicely tanned skin, his hair was dark auburn and pulled back in a loose hair tie and a cocky smirk was set in place as he looked her over.

But no matter how gorgeous he was, she was still Rogue, and she rarely did socializing let alone accept cheesy pick-up lines from some stranger she ran into on the street.

"That the best you can come up with?" Rogue snorted, "Sorry Swamp Rat, you'd have to try harder than that."

There was a chuckle from behind them and they both looked over to see another man standing a bit further away, laughing at the exchange between two. The second man was handsome as well, with unkempt red hair and shining blue eyes. Unlike his companion however, he had a genuine smile instead of the leer his friend was giving.

"Swamp Rat you say _chere?_ Dis one's hurt, the names Remy Lebeau," He tipped his head like she imagined he would with a hat, "And Remy here wouldn't mind hearing your name _belle, _maybe a number?_"_

Rogue turned her back and smiled, hiding the blush coming to her face despite the cliché way his words sounded. "It's…" She thought for a moment, "Sophie, and not a chance, Cajun."

Rogue walked away, adding an extra sway to her step as she caught up to her friends.

"So who was _that?_" Jubilee and Kitty asked, looking over at her.

"Just some third-person trying to come on to me," she smiled, "No one special."

_Yeah right Marie, don't forget that we can see what you're thinking in here. Look kid you don't need some prick like that._

_I know Logan, it's not like I'm giving out my number._

"Well no-one-special can come on to me any day," Jubilee said.

Rogue felt satisfaction at being the one to run into Remy. Flirting wasn't anything normal for her, seeing as all hers peers at the mansion knew she could kill them with a touch and kept their distance. She let her hair cover her face and the blush spreading across her cheeks.

*************************************************************************************

The girls walked up the steps to the museum over an hour later than they had planned to be, but in Rogue's opinion the fewer hours they spent learning, the better.

"That will be $10.95 each please," The cashier said.

"Jeez, it would be way cheaper to just go to a library and read about art instead," Kitty groaned, leaning over the counter.

Rogue smiled at the cashier and reached into her bag, "I heard a lot of this artwork comes directly from Louisiana artists and not international traveling pieces?"

"Yes ma'am, we've been showcasing younger artist's work this year."

Rogue's smile froze on her face and she looked over to her friend, "Kitty, you have your wallet with you right?"

"Yeah, sure, did you not bring enough money?"Kitty frowned, taking out her own wallet.

"No, I did bring enough money from the hotel," Rogue said. She knew she had brought enough money, just like she knew she had placed it in her bag. It was an open bag with no zipper, and there were plenty of chances that it could have fallen out, or times today when she could have left it on a table at a meal. Plenty of chances for her to lose it. And at least one chance for it to be stolen. By a smooth talking Cajun who just happened to be walking in a long trench coat in hot New Orleans weather.

"Swamp Rat!"

"What?!" Her startled friends looked over to her.

"That no good Cajun!" She bit out, he stole her wallet and she hadn't even noticed!

Rogue had done quite a lot of pick pocketing when she was on the road, and during her time on her own she thought she had gotten better at catching people who were trying to take her valuables. But she had been at Xavier's for years now, and combat training in the danger room just wasn't the same as the survival skills she used to have back on the streets.

"He took my wallet," She put her head in her hands, "You two have enough money for us all?"

"Yeah I do, but like wow, you didn't even notice?" Kitty looked at her doubtfully, "Gosh Rogue, I thought you of all people would be paying attention." She growled as Kitty turned around to pay for their tickets.

"Don't think about it _Chica, _she definantly isn't," Jube's said into her ear. "You don't have your ID either right?"

"No."

"Hmm." Her friend looked her over, "You could pass for eighteen at least, so no worries there, but we should call the institute to cancel the credit cards."

She nodded in response and they headed towards the hall leading into a larger viewing room.

"Argh! It just really ticks me off!"

"Having your wallet stolen?"

"Yes!" Rogue lowered her voice, "Here I am a mutant with powers of pain and destruction! Trained by The Wolverine himself, and I get robbed by some cocky jerk that has the nerve to flirt with me while pocketing my things!"

"Well I'm sure that with your," Jubilee giggled, "Powers of `pain and destruction' you could track him down and make him pay."

"Or," Kitty piped up, "You could bring back the clothes you're wearing now and give them to Logan, he could probably track the scent or something like one of those police dogs you see on TV."

All three of them burst into laughter, receiving glares of disapproval from the staff and other visitors.

"So what exactly is this supposed to be?"

Surprisingly enough the museum turned out to be interesting, most of the art they were viewing was abstract work; pieces with one letter titles and shapes that could have been anything.

Ideas on what the pictures represented were tossed around; most being inappropriate comments that had gotten them ushered to a different room by a guide who was attending to a younger group of elementary age students.

"It kinda looks like Dr. McCoy."

"In a tutu?"

"Yeah, you never know with a guy who refers to his `stars and garters' whenever he's startled."

A tall woman wearing the museums uniform walked over to them, frowning down at them, "I'm sorry young ladies but we are going to have to ask that you leave the premises."

Rogue felt flustered for a moment, looking over at her friends who were now looking down at their feet with smiles of embarrassment.

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay, so where to now?" Jubilee asked, they had finished the educational part of the trip in less than five hours and now it was time for partying.

After strolling around for a bit, the trio headed into Bourbon Street where they had stopped to find out where the best bars were. They had gone to into the bar with the intention of dancing and having fun, but they didn't seem to have trouble getting free drinks from a cute guy or two.

Jubilee had been right about Rogue not needing an ID and had gotten into the bar without much trouble.

She and the girls had been having fun dancing for almost an hour when Kitty tapped Rogue on the shoulder and spoke over the noise.

"Hey Rogue, isn't that the pervy pick pocket!"

Rogue looked over to where she was pointing and sure enough, there he was, sitting with a few others and flirting with the bartender. It looked like he was getting lucky from the way she was flirting back.

"Want me to hurt him?" Jubilee asked and Rogue saw a spark at her fingertips.

"No," Rogue smiled, "I'll take care of it."

Rogue turned to her friends, "Go on and have fun, I'm not going to hurt him, just beat him at his own game." Rogue waved her friends off and walked towards the bar.

AN- So you may have noticed that the characters are a little mixed in with the cartoons and comics, Jubilee wasn't even really in the movie and that kind of sucked. Also, this was sorta supposed to be a short story with a sequel after, I'm not sure if it still will be but I don't have the comics that Remy's family appeared in and was wondering if anyone could give me descriptions of them? (Tante Mattie, Mercy, Emil, Jean-Luc) I don't remember enough where I can write dialogue with them. And thanks for the reviews, they make me all happy :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer- I don't own them.**

**Remy's POV-**

"This one's on the house sweetheart," Janelle leaned over the bar to show just why she was being so generous this evening and Remy moved forward to reciprocate her actions.

"Remy thinks you might be having some darker intentions for getting me drunk, _non_?" He smiled deviously; she was one of the few who knew what lay behind his shades and didn't mind, as long as he kept them on that is.

"Remy," Henri looked over his shoulder, "It's the _femme _from dis morning!"

Remy looked up to see the very girl he had stolen from a few hours before walking towards the two brothers.

"You think she knows, you did walk right into her."

"_Non,_" Remy looked closely at the girl, Sophie, and she didn't look angry. In fact she was smiling and strutting right towards him.

"Hey there Swamp Rat," She slid in next to him, "I was hoping I'd run in to y'all again."

She must have been laying her accent on thick now because Remy had barely noticed it much before. He eyed her up again and wondered how she could wear so many clothes in a crowded bar. She had most of her hair up with her dyed white locks framing her face. She had brushed them back quite a few times in their short encounter in a way that appeared to be a well used habit.

He noticed she had changed for the evening and was now wearing a forest green off-shoulder shirt and black pants. The strange part was that she was wearing long gloves that went up to her elbows, a different color than the ones she wore earlier that morning.

"Y'know _chere _you're giving Remy mixed signals with all this name calling." He held his hand over his heart dramatically. "Besides, if I'm a swamp rat then from the sounds of it you must be a river rat, _non?_"

Irritation crossed her face, "Fine, I won't call you Swamp Rat if you don't call me _that,_ Cajun."

"Anything you wish," Remy could see the blush rise on her cheeks as he spoke, tilting her head so that her hair fell in front of her face.

"You want a drink _chere?_"

She glanced towards the bartender and shrugged, "Whatever you're having sugar." She watched him as he ordered and a strange look crossed her face, "I'm guessing you've got every lady working a bar in this city wrapped around your finger, don't ya?"

"More than you'd know," Remy looked at her smugly.

"Ugh," She shuddered, "You're disgusting."

She never left the bar despite that, and they chatted idly for about an hour about nothing in particular. Remy was able to watch her as they talked, she almost never looked straight at him preferring to scan the crowd instead.

"It's a bit hot in here for gloves _belle, _you should shed a few layers and come dance with Remy."

"Well _Remy_ you're one to talk, wearing gloves and sunglasses in a darkened bar." She smirked and straightened up, "But I think I might just take up the offer to dance. You coming?"

He let the _femme _lead him into the crowd and noticed how easily she moved, rarely even brushing onto someone, almost like the dancers were parting for her.

She had an interesting way of dancing, not that it would appear any different by a casual glance but she moved with a grace that put her so that she was less than an inch away from him at some points but almost never seemed to touch him. Always staying just out of reach, and looking up at him with those teasing green eyes.

"_Belle,_" he murmured into her ear, "You think you might want to come back with Remy sometime tonight?"

"You got a place near here?"

"Close enough, I've got a bike we can take."

"Like, a motorcycle?" Remy could have laughed at the way her face lit up; she lowered her eyes for a moment and ran her hands around him and down his back.

"_Oui, chere,"_ She ran her hands even _further _down, grinned at him and leaned close enough so that their lips were almost touching.

"Well then _sugar,_ I guess I'm going to have to say," She paused to lick her lips, "_No."_

"Huh?"Remy blinked, "_Chere?_"

"I said _no,_ Swamp Rat," And with that she rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving him confused and flustered. He stood there until she had disappeared into the crowd, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"_Mon dieu,"_ He breathed, was this _femme _crazy? Women did not reject Remy, ever. Of course there was always the occasional mutant hater but he was wearing sun glasses, and she hadn't appeared scared of him.

"_Mon frère,_" Henri pat a hand on Remy's shoulder, "Did I just see what I think I saw?"

"She said no."

His brother laughed and shook his head, "It had to happen someday, maybe you're just getting old. Come on, let's go."

"_Non!"_ Remy objected, "Remy's only twenty-three, dat's not old!" The two walked out of the bar, Remy's accent becoming stronger the more he protested and his brother laughed.

"Remy, that is your bike, _oui?"_ Remy looked up to see a young woman hopping on to his bike and putting on his helmet. There was no one else in the parking lot, but her and Remy knew for certain it was his bike. He started running towards the parking lot and shouting as she started it up and rode out of the parking lot.

"_Merde!_" Remy groaned, he had seen a wisp of the woman's hair as she drove off, white on brown strands trailing behind her.

"She hot-wired your bike?" Henri looked towards his brother in disbelief. They couldn't out run her and she was as gone.

"_Non,_" Remy reached into his back pocket, "She used the keys."

"Remy, boy don't be slamming doors in dis house," Remy growled as he stormed into the kitchen, slowing as his _Tante_ scolded him.

Henri walked in behind his brother, sitting down next to his wife and grinning at the others, "Remy got himself robbed, by a pretty little _femme_ he stole from just this morning."

Both women in the room went silent, looking over at Remy in disbelief, this did not happen. Remy Lebeau was a master thief, Gambit, _Le Diable Blanc,_ how could he have been pick pocketed by someone not known by this guild?

"Remy, how did'ya let this happen?" Tante Mattie lowered her voice looking at him closely. "What were you doing dat you couldn't be bothered to notice someone thievin' from y'all?"

Remy smirked when he thought back to Sophie, smothering it quickly when he saw the looks shot at him.

"Remy," Henri put his head in his hands, "You can't have gotten so caught up that you'd have not noticed." It wasn't really a question though, they all knew his reputation as a ladies' man.

"Could she be," Henri's wife, Mercy thought for a moment, "A threat to us, an assassin messing with us?"

Remy and Henri exchanged a look, "We'll tell Jean-Luc about it in the morning."

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

**Rogue's POV-**

"Umm, Rogue?" Kitty and Jubilee gave her slightly bewildered faces, "Where did you get that bike?"

Rogue turned towards her friends and gave a shit-eating grin.

"Guess."

The girls both looked at her, and then to the bike.

"You stole from the thief?!" Kitty shrieked, "You can't steal from him! He's, like, all tall, dark and handsome, and wears a _trenchcoat!_"

"O-kay?"

"You don't get it!" Kitty waved her arms around frantically. "I saw this on TV! There was this, like, super hot guy who went around_ seducing _young women, taking all their money and then, like it totally turned out he was this big shot mobster who was _murdering _them in their sleep! And you know what he had in common with this guy?! He _wore a trenchcoat!_"

Rogue put her gloved hands on Kitty's shoulders as her friend regained her breath.

"Kitty sugar, nothing like that's gonna happen." Rogue gave a laugh to assure her.

"Fine, but if he like, comes in to kill us I'm phasing Jube's here first." Kitty gave her a stern look and headed towards the hotel's entrance.

"So how exactly did you manage to pick his pocket?" Jubilee hopped on to the bed next to Rogue.

Rogue rolled her eyes, "I myself might not be an expert thief, but I've got plenty of bad guys roaming around up here," she tapped her head, "To think up something that'd make his head spin."

"What're you going to do with it?" Jubilee popped two strips of gum in her mouth and held out a piece for Rogue, who shook her head.

"Well, the Logan in me wants to take it for good but," She gave a dramatic sigh, "I suppose I'll just leave it at the bar where he can find it."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, did you have something else in mind?"

Jubilee smiled and leaned down, "Nothing terrible, just a few scratches, he strikes me as the kind of guy who cares about those things."

"Would you two shut up!" A lump under the covers grumbled, "It's like, 3am, sleep already!"

Rogue reached over to turn off the lamp beside her, and then whispered, "So just a few scratches, eh?"

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

"So you think dis girl might be a threat to us?" Jean-Luc, Remy's father sat across from him and his brother.

"_Non."_

"_Oui."_

Remy and Henri glared at each other.

"She stole from you, _mon frère,_ and you didn't notice! What is it then? Have you lost your touch, or were you just that oblivious!"

Remy looked straight at his father, "_Pere,_ there are many people in dis world capable of picking pockets, Remy's always been a sucker for a pretty face, dis _femme_ was no different." He thought for a moment and smirked, "But if you want, Remy could go find her, to make sure she's no harm, that is."

Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow and sighed, "Fine, but make sure to find out when dis girl is leaving town." His father ran a hand through his hair, "Don't do anything stupid. Please."

"Remy don't know what you're talking about," Remy sauntered out of the kitchen stopping at the doorway, "You'd think dis one had a habit of being reckless the way you're talking."

She was definantly a tourist, because people around his city knew who Remy was and knew better than to mess with him. He had already confirmed that she was from Mississippi, that accent of hers a dead giveaway.

Remy took out the wallet he had been carrying around for the past two days and examined her driver's license.

"Huh, the _femmes _a little liar from the looks of it." Remy chuckled to himself. He knew a fake ID when he saw one, and this was most definantly fake. It was well done, it was her picture on the card, and everything looked almost entirely real. It was a New York drivers license and he wondered if she really lived there.

He riffled in the wallet for a second time and took out her credit card, he had looked at it several times and couldn't tell why it seemed so familiar. It was silver and black with an X inside of a circle, he knew he had seen it before. Then again she had been wearing nice, high end clothes and stores like that sometimes had their own credit cards.

Remy pushed the credit card back in and pulled out a few pictures from behind the ID. One was a picture of her and two other girls, one Asian and donned in bright yellow and pink, the other a petite brunette grinning from ear to ear. He recognized them from the bar and noticed the way she edged away from them both in the photo, she had been like that in the bar too, staying just out of reach. Two other photo's were there as well, she was posing next to an older man grinning at the camera and hugging his neck, the man on another hand looked uncomfortable as hell, but was putting up with it.

He placed the photos back inside and put the wallet in his pocket, he had a good idea where she might be later on in the evening, places where most younger tourists headed on vacation.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer-*Sighs* No, I do not own them.**

Rogue didn't run into Remy at all the next day, she and the girls had gone on a shopping spree, or that is to say, Kitty and Jubilee had gone shopping, dragging along a reluctant Rogue. She hadn't bought more than two things the entire day, one being an expensive pair of leather gloves that fit like a dream and were thin enough to wear on a regular basis, the other being a book to read while her friends shopped the rest of the afternoon.

Despite the fact that Rogue never ran into Remy, she thought that she caught a glimpse of a trench coat clad man several times during the day. Each time she saw him she would look back to find that he had disappeared.

At one point Rogue became so paranoid that she had lifted her head to scent the air and let loose a growl that had startled both of her friends. She had known then that it couldn't just be paranoia if her psyches were on edge as well. The later it became the more she feared that Kitty had been at least partially right, the man she had stolen from could most definantly be dangerous.

She never shared this fear with either of her friends, nothing was for sure and causing panic would do no good. Instead Rogue took to standing towards the entrance of the shops they were at; there was no way she was going to endanger her friends because of some petty revenge taken after having her wallet stolen.

Thankfully by the end of the day nothing had happened, Rogue felt silly for being so completely freaked but didn't regret spending the day on-guard. She was an X-man after all. She and the girls had gone out to dinner later and spent the rest of the night in their hotel room trying on clothes and having giggle fits.

******************** *************************************** ************************

When Rogue woke up it was already 10 o'clock and Kitty and Jubilee had already left the hotel. They had left a note telling her they were heading out for more shopping, sparing her by leaving her alone. Rogue really had no idea what she was going to do for the day, seeing as it was too early for a bar and she had no desire to go to a store. She didn't really want to deal with crowds of people or be given strange looks for the rest of the day every time she jumped away from another person's skin. Settling for somewhere quiet in contrast to the noise and hustle of the rest of the city, Rogue decided on the public library.

"Anything in particular you're looking for miss?" The librarian looked up at Rogue from her desk.

"History books, on World War II or Auswisch maybe?" The librarian nodded and pointed towards the back of the library. A perfect spot for her to sit and read for a few good hours.

_Is that what they're saying happened, really? Homo Sapiens, this is exactly why their species has outlived their usefulness, letting those men live was one of the worst mistakes-_

Before Rogue came into her powers, or scratch that, before she started absorbing people she never had any desire whatsoever to read or learn about history. She found out quickly the personality quirks that came with her mutation.

After absorbing Logan for the first time Rogue found herself growling at Scott and blowing whistles under her breath while passing by Jean. Wanting to tear out the throats of people who pissed her off was an urge she never seemed to she woke up the morning after the event at Liberty Island she realized she couldn't speak English, Magneto knew English of course, but it wasn't his first language so for a short time it wasn't hers either. Rogue's brother, Kurt, had enjoyed this immensely and took advantage of being able to have full conversations with her without the hassle of trying to speak a second day that she had absorbed John was the day she had taken a liking to Zippo's and strangely, Shakespeare's works, at first she wasn't sure if it was really from Pyro, in all her time at the mansion she not once saw him pick up a book. His psyche later assured her that he did enjoy reading, but keeping up appearances kept him from showing his intellectual side.

None of these personality quirks really got to her as much as the nightmares did. Logan, with his nightmares of labs and needles, and pain that never seemed to end. Erik-Magneto's nightmares of the concentration camps he was forced to endure at such a young age. John's memories of the streets and the cruelty of his mutant-hating parents.

Rogue sighed and closed her book, without her friends around she became way to depressing. It was 4 o'clock now and she might as well head out to catch up with the two.

"Hello _chere,"_

Rogue jumped back, startled. Remy was standing in front of her, leaning on one arm against a bookshelf, the other arm holding up a very familiar leather wallet.

"I believe dis belongs to you, _non?_"

***************** ******************************************** ***********************

Remy had chosen to observe the girl the day before, rather than confront her and risk her leaving town. He hadn't learned much from afar except that his brothers' fears may have been justified. She spotted him quickly, he could tell from her face that she didn't know for sure if she saw him. All the same she stood away from her friends and her stance gave her the look of someone on guard. Remy had to give the girl credit, her two companions didn't seem to be alert or aware like she was, Remy caught her relaxing her stance many times when the two came over to where she was standing, smiling and waving them off.

The next day Remy decided he needed to confront her, his family would take action if he didn't. She didn't leave the hotel with her friends that morning, but left before noon and headed towards the library. Surprisingly, Remy was able to sit around for hours without her noticing she was completely absorbed in her books, books mostly on World War II and Concentration Camps during the war. They weren't topics Remy would think a young woman would enjoy reading, but they held her interest for a good four hours. She wore another warm outfit today with skinny jeans, gloves, and a top that bared her shoulders completely, but covered her arms down to her short gloves. Remy got up when she stood to put away her books. He didn't want to have to confront her while she was with her friends, they didn't act like assassins or any sort of trained professional, and harming them wouldn't get Remy on her good side.

"Hello _Chere_."

Her face paled when he spoke, and she took a defensive stance immediately.

"What're you doing here?" She spat.

"I could ask you the same _belle, _did you not steal Remy's bike? Wandering around in dis one's city isn't wise after such an act, _non?_"

"Well," The _femme _pouted, drawing Remy's attention to her gloss covered lips. "You stole my wallet, I was just repaying the favor."

Remy felt the need to raise an eyebrow at that. "So you feel stealing Remy's bike is equivalent to him stealing your wallet?"

"…Yeah." She blushed and looked down at her feet for a moment before retorting indignantly, "It holds sentimental value! I have pictures in there, and credit cards! What if you had decided to go on a spending spree!"

"A spending spree?! _Chere, _you had it canceled before I could even make a dent!"

"You tried to use it?!" She shrieked, and Remy suddenly found himself the victim of many flying hardcover books.

"Hey, hey! Remy just said he barely made a dent!" Remy raised his arms over his face, "No need to get mad _oui?" _

After a few more angry books assaulted him, she calmed down. Remy straightened up and held the wallet out to her, putting his cocky smile back in place. He strode forwards so that he was towering above her smaller frame, enjoying the way she had to look up at him, even if, by the way she grimaced she didn't appreciate it.

"Thanks." Remy found the wallet snatched from his fingers, he watched her rummage through her wallet, first taking out the pictures and sighing in relief when she found them undamaged.

"Not to insult your belongings _chere,_ but photos tend to be the last thing a thief looks for."

She glared up at him, clutching the wallet to her chest protectively, "Well Swamp Rat, you've already confirmed that you tried using my credit card, and I don't see why you care."

"Oh, but _chere,_ how could I not? Now do you think you could return Remy's bike to him?"

"I'll think about it." She said looking at him strangely, "I never would have expected you to give this back."

"Remy's a man of many surprising qualities." His face became serious as he stared at her, "And he would like to ask you a few questions 'bout why you're here in his city."

"Why, you a mobster or something?"

The way she said it wasn't jokingly however, her eyes were searching his, and she didn't appear so much startled as wary when he replied just as somber, "Something like that."

******************** ******************************************* ********************

Rogue grew more panicked as she and Remy walked down the street. She had complied when he told her that they needed to talk, she didn't want to fight with a man who was obviously dangerous and most likely had a gun on him somewhere beneath that trench coat. Rogue figured as long as they remained in a crowded area that she would have a decent chance of not getting injured.

"So what do you want to ask me?" Rogue asked. The two of them were sitting in a crowded rstaurant, Remy had insisted upon being a gentleman and paying for their food and she hadn't argued with him.

"So _chere,_ Remy's can't see you as one, but he's gotta ask. You with the assassins?"

Rogue looked up at him from her cup, "Am I an assassin?" She shook her head. "No."

"_Non,_" Remy frowned at her, "Are you a part of the—Never mind, that answers it."

"Then what business do you deal in exactly _belle?"_

"I don't deal in any _business_ Swamp Rat." Being an X-men wasn't a regular job, and certainly not something she could tell to anyone.

Remy looked at her skeptically, "No business you say? You picked my pocket, that might not seem big to you but it is, and lying to Remy ain't gonna help you, _chere."_

Rogue's mind reeled, what could she say? She was a part of a group of mutants working towards peace who just so happened to be trained in combat, and by the way, had skills that were taught to her by other highly dangerous mutants?

She fiddled with the tags around her neck while an idea came to her. It wouldn't make her appear to be as much of a threat, maybe.

"My… father works in some more, unique avenues. Growing up with him I've attained a number of interesting talents." Which wasn't wholly the truth, but it was close enough for Rogue. Logan legally adopted Rogue after her first year at the mansion; the professor needed her to have a legal guardian and Logan had stepped forward. In the Danger room Logan sparred with her more than any of the other students. In addition to that, his psyche was the loudest in her mind, being provoked by Remy only made things worse.

"And you don't work in these avenues _chere?" _

"No."

Rogue watched as he put his head in his hands and groaned. "You kill Remy you know that? So you are not working in any sort of family business, you're a total civilian? Who just happens to have picked a master thief's pocket?"

"Ummm, yes?" She resolved to let the `master thief ' comment slide. Tonight she'd 'fess up to the girls, tell them he was dangerous and take the first flight home.

"Sophie-Ann isn't your real name." This time it wasn't a question.

"No."

Remy sat back as their food arrived, "You're not going to wear those gloves while you eat _chere?"_ Rogue sent a pointed glance at his own gloves as she took her own off. She watched him take them off, finally realizing why he wore them. His fingers and hands had the scars of old burns, no longer red but with raised skin twisted around his fingers.

"Childhood incident." He said. "Why do you wear gloves?"

"Sensitive skin." Not the best excuse, and he didn't look like he believed it, but the subject was dropped.

No talk of assassins or thieving continued afterword, instead the two chatted on about nothings, the weather, the city, anything neutral until they had finished eating. Remy walked her out of the restaurant, and insisted upon walking her to the hotel. Whether he was walking with her out of his goodwill or not, Rogue couldn't tell.

********************** **************************************** ******************

"Don't worry Swamp Rat, I'll be out of _your _city soon." Rogue said, smiling for the first time that day. "I'm pretty sure my friends are still out though."

"S'okay _chere,_ Remy thinks he has enough evidence that you're not a threat."

"Great. Bye Cajun." Rogue turned to the hotels doors, not bothering to conceal her relief now that his interrogation was over.

Remy smirked and began to leave when he remembered his reasons for walking her back.

"Hey wait, _belle_, my bike!" Remy reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "You said you'd—" Remy's voice faltered as she turned around, wide eyed and looking at his hand in horror.

"Something wrong?" Remy said raising his hand off of her. Before he could completely pull back however, she grabbed his hand and stared at it, and then met his eyes with a sort of panic.

"You're a mutant aren't you?" She whispered faintly.

Before Remy could respond she let go, turned and ran, not into the hotel but back into the crowded streets and as far away from him as she could get.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer- Don't own them.**

AN- BTW, the shirt she was wearing was one of those shirts where it shows both shoulders, but has two straps holding it up, so he did touch her shoulder. I've seen them a lot but I can't find a picture, sorry if this chapter confuses you any.

Rogue sprinted from the hotel as fast as she could, thinking furiously about this Remy Lebeau. He couldn't possibly be human if he had touched her and nothing happened. Then again, no other mutant had ever touched her without anything happening before either. When Rogue first arrived at the institute she and the Professor had gotten into a lengthy discussion regarding her powers. Controlling ones abilities, he told her that day, came from practice; something Rogue was incapable of doing without seriously endangering her instructors. The professor, ever the optimist, informed her some theories he thought up on how she might someday learn to control them. Apparently in his lifetime he ran into quite a few powerful mutants, some of which he believed might be able to counteract her abilities with their own.

Of course, Rogue thought bitterly, he died before they could find a mutant to test this theory.

And now that she had she was pissed. The one person who might be able to touch her and he worked as some kind of criminal! It was just her luck really. She lived in a mansion full of mutants why couldn't it be one of the two hundred students attending Xavier's?

Rogue didn't begin to slow until the New Orleans heat started to make her head light. A shoulder shoved into her own and she found herself stumbling and falling towards the ground. Rogue pushed up from the ground and looked at her surroundings. She didn't recognize any of the buildings or the park she was standing in. Rogue made her way over to a park bench and sat down. Sunset was still an hour or so away, and she figured the girls were back at the hotel by now, no doubt wondering where she was.

Pulling out her phone Rogue dialed Jubilee's number, tapping her foot she waited impatiently until she heard her friends voicemail come on.

"Jubilee! I need to talk to you, it's really important, I mean _really _important." Rogue looked around nervously, "Okay, maybe not life or death… Or maybe it is, I don't know. It's just-" The phone beeped, signaling the end of the recording. "Confusing."

Why the hell could he touch her? Nobody could touch her, she was poisonous and deadly to everyone she'd ever met. Until now. What power could stop her own?

Rogue dialed Kitty's number with the same results; she left another panicked message that wouldn't make any sense to her friends whatsoever; cursing in her loudest voice when she was cut of once again. Ignoring the wary looks being thrown her way, Rogue stood up stomping her way down the sidewalk, muttering under her breath and trying to find a way to blow off steam.

Thirty minutes later she was utterly lost but no longer angry. She was tired and uncertain and becoming even more so when she realized she didn't feel the need to kill the Cajun anymore. Now, Rogue thought, she didn't want to hurt him or wreck his bike, she wanted to find him and touch him. Ask what he was and how he could touch her without keeling over in pain.

Finally a familiar building became visible; she couldn't be more than two blocks away from the hotel. Any energy Rogue had earlier that evening left her abruptly as she entered the elevator, clutching at the handrails was all she could do to keep her knees from giving out altogether. The elevator music playing felt like it was giving her a headache, but she was crabby and rationally knew that the quiet music couldn't possibly be the reason for the splitting pain running through her head.

Kitty and Jubilee both sat up as she unlocked the door, jumping out of bed to question her in what was, in Rogues opinion, the loudest possible voices they could use at this hour.

"Where have you been?!" The two of them asked simultaneously.

"Out." Rogue flopped on the bed and started to worm her way under the covers, not bothering to change clothes.

"But we like, got your message, and you sounded all freaked!"

"Yeah, _Chica_, you run into that guy again? The bike was gone when we got here." Jubilee sat on the edge of the bed and gave Rogue a worried face.

Rogue ran her hands up her face and covered her eyes, "Yeah, I saw him, we talked, we ate. He touched me and isn't dead." She rolled over to her stomach, then grabbed a pillow to cover her head. "Now leave me alone."

That sentence in itself only aided in rousing her overenthusiastic friends excitement, soon she felt the weight on the bed shift towards her head. Both of her shoulders were shaken as the two bombarded her with questions.

"What happened?"

"You ate together!"

"What do you mean he's not dead!"

"Is he like, in a coma?!"

"Ohmygod, where'd you leave his body, you like, at least brought him to a hospital right?!"

Rogue sat up to glare at Kitty. "I did not dump his body, because he is neither dead nor comatose!" She shouted, "He is perfectly fine, in fact he is _so _fine that he isn't hurt at all!"

Rogue received blank stares in response.

"Well then, if you touched him with your gloves, then what's the problem _Chica?_" Jubilee searched Rogue's eyes.

"We did touch skin to skin Jube's. But I think he's a mutant 'cause I didn't feel a pull, not even a tug of my power." Rogue spoke softly now, "I think it's got something to do with his mutant ability, and I need to go talk to him, ask what he does."

She pulled her covers back up and clicked off the bedside light, signaling the finality of her words.

As Rogue drifted off to sleep however, she did not think of the questions she wanted to ask him. Instead she thought about the way his hair fell around his face, and the way he smiled down at her while he spoke. That Cajun accent that was so much more prominent than her own Mississippi tone. Rogue dreamed of him while she slept. Dreamed of touching him and kissing him, things she was only able to do briefly after she took the cure with a boy who didn't even love her.

******************* ******************** ********************************************

Remy stood for a long moment after the girl ran away, how could she have known what he was? He reached up to his shades to assure himself that she hadn't seen his eyes and wondered what he did to reveal himself.

Many of the citizens of New Orleans knew what he was, _Le Diable Blanc,_ a majority of those citizens gave Remy the same look of horror that appeared on the _femme's_ face. But they had also known him since he was a child. How she came to find he was a mutant didn't seem to be the only thing bothering Remy though. The fear in her eye's bothered him more than it should or had, with any other person. He didn't know her well enough to be hurt, and chastised himself silently.

After the way that she ran away from him, Remy assumed she wouldn't be very obliging to give him his bike back so Remy entered the parking garage to find it. After ten minutes of searching he found it leaning against the wall furthest from all the exits. For good reason too, his bike showed signs of being mauled. It looked as though she had gone a little overboard while keying the sides. No doubt with the help of her friends. The words `thief' and `jerk' and `stupid Cajun' were carved through the paint and into the metal. The keys to his bike were sitting right on the seat, it surprised Remy that no one had stolen his bike until he picked them up. Remy picked up the keys and peered at the edges of them, every single key had been mutilated from the force used to press into the bike.

***

Henri and Jean-Luc sat in the kitchen waiting for Remy when he arrived home, eyeing him expectantly. Remy joined them at the table and sat down with a sigh.

"She's no threat."

"And how do you know this?" Jean-Luc demanded.

"I watched her all of yesterday, spoke to her for a better part of the day today."

"Really?" Henri asked. "You _talked _to this _fille_, and now you know that she is absolutely no threat to our guild?"

"What can I say," Remy smirked devilishly, "Remy has a way with the _femmes."_ His smile only grew as he watched his brother and father give him strong looks of disapproval.

"Well, Remy also had a little help from his you know, talents." He tapped his head for emphasis. "She's not the easiest to read, but Remy always knows when and if he's being lied to."

"Fine." Jean-Luc replied, "I will take your word this once, is there anything about her the guild should know?"

"_Non,_" Remy frowned, "Except that she knows Remy's a mutant, and doesn't seem too happy 'bout it."

"She knows?" Henri gave his brother a sharp glance. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Remy objected, "One minute Remy's walking her home, next thing he knows she's calling dis one a mutant and running away!"

"Did your sun glasses slip?" Henri asked, "Or did you blow something up? Both of those could really scare a _fille_ off you know."

"Dis one's shades didn't slip, and nothing blew up." Remy shook his head. "She just knew, _oui?"_

"Strange, but not important." Remy's father got up and pushed his chair in. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a meeting with an old friend."

The two brothers sat in silence for a brief period, contemplating how on earth she could tell he was a mutant without making visual contact with his red on black eyes. Remy was careful of this around strangers, more so with a potential enemy.

"Sounds like de girl was a mutant herself." Both young men gave startled looks to their Tante Mattie, who suddenly appeared by the sink, washing the dishes, neither of them had seen her come in. "What?" She glared at them. "Dis is my kitchen."

"If she was a mutant then why'd she run from dis one?" Remy asked, confused.

"Don't know, never met de _fille._" His Tante told him.

Remy thought for a moment about the possibility of the young woman being a mutant. She couldn't be a telepath or she would have known when they first met. He'd heard of mutants with secondary powers of clairvoyance, not unlike his own empathy. That might explain why she hadn't known he was a mutant until he touched her. However Remy didn't understand why she was so afraid of him if she was also a mutant.

"Maybe," Remy sighed, "Either way, she's no threat."He stood up to leave, "Night."

He wanted to see her again though, and he hoped that they ran into each other again. And that if they did happen to meet, she wasn't afraid of him or attempt to run away.

Remy now believed the young woman was a mutant and wondered what her powers were, that is, if clairvoyance was only a secondary ability. Soon he found his mind wandering to other ventures, he thought of how her lips quirked up when she was trying not to smile. The way she held her hand up to her face, unconsciously playing with the white strands of her hair. Remy cursed, he had already scared the _belle femme_ off and wouldn't run into her again. Especially seeing as she had already informed him she was leaving _his _city as soon as possible.

********************* ********************************** *****************************

Jean-Luc sat at the large mahogany desk occupying his study, observing his longtime friend and ally carefully. In the years that they had known each other, she had only asked for a favor once, and even then it was only when she had absolutely nowhere else to turn. They sat quietly for at least ten minutes before she spoke, her voice wavering slightly as she pleaded at him with those brown doe eyes he hadn't seen in five years at least.

"You know about the failure of the cure already so I'm not going to bore you with all of the details but," She gave a shaky breath, "We've received word of a new cure, one that is going to be mandatory and permanent."

"Mandatory? Are they going to go around shooting everyone with those ridiculous plastic guns again?" Jean-Luc asked, not yet seeing what she wanted from him.

"We don't know, right now the subject of it being mandatory is only rumour. Our other problem is the Brotherhood. After the events of Alcatraz Magneto began to build up an army larger and stronger than before. He's had more time to recruit and they've been laying low, we have no way of knowing what's going on. We have reason to believe they're planning on attacking the government before they attack us."

She looked down at the hands resting in her lap, if Jean-Luc hadn't known her so well he could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes.

"Since the professor died I've been running the institute, I love my students, I want to protect them to the best of my ability." She grabbed a strand of her white hair and tugged nervously. "But I don't believe I can do so by myself anymore."'

"So you would like me to…" he trailed off.

"Obtain information. I need to know what's going on, and you have connections, Remy has connections. _My students lives may depend on this._" She breathed out in frustration. "I would also like to ask for you to watch over a few of my students." Noticing his expression she added, "They're older students, we've been finding safe houses for most of them, sending the ones with families back home. We want to appear as non-threatening as possible. You won't need to babysit them, just give them a place to stay."

"Ororo," Jean-Luc smiled kindly, a rarity for this particular guild leader. "All you needed to do was ask, it's been slow around here," His smile changed to the trademark Lebeau smirk, "Besides, my men always enjoy a challenge."

Ororo Munroe sagged in relief at his casual agreement. "Thank you. You can't know how much this means to me. My students are already here in the city for educational purposes, I'll inform them of these circumstances after we've gone over all the details."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

"Hey Kitty, any sign of him?" Rogue spoke into her phone.

"_Not here, gosh, this city can't be that big, didn't you say he like, lived in the French Quarter or something?"_

"Okay, call if you-"

"_See him, yes I know."_

By 8 o'clock that morning Rogue's two best friends had already made out plans to find Remy. It wasn't everyday Rogue was able to touch another person, Kitty and Jubilee apparently stayed up the entire night researching Remy Lebeau. Even with Kitty's computer skills they weren't able to bring up much, proving precisely how dangerous a person he could be if he simply disappeared off of government databases. None the less, all three girls split up that morning, checking every place a mysterious playboy like himself might occupy. So far there'd been no sight of him and Rogue was losing hope.

It didn't help that today was the start of Mardi Gras. Rogue could barely walk through the crowds of people, hunching over for fear of accidentally touching someone. The noise of the partygoers was almost deafening, surprising considering how early it was. Rogue had to be grateful for her friends, she knew for a fact that each of them spent at least a week putting together outfits to wear for Mardi Gras. On their own they decided to help her track down this man, and give up hours worth of fun and partying.

She wasn't entirely sure of what she was going to say to him, or how he would react if or when she confronted him, demanding to know more about his mutation. After all, she told him she would be leaving town as soon as possible, and then ran away from him in fear. Chances were he thought she was a complete psychopath.

***

"Hey you! Wait up!" Rogue shouted at a man across the street, he was the redhead who had been with Remy the first time they met. There was a woman with him this time, they were walking away from her, and Rogue was trying to catch up to them.

"Wait! Stop, I need to ask you something!" The woman was the first to turn around, tapping her companion on the shoulder and pointing towards Rogue. Recognition sparked in his eyes as the two of them stopped to wait for her.

"You're a friend of Remy's right?" Rogue asked, panting.

"Uhh, Sophie it was, _oui?"_ He asked politely, giving her a questioning look.

"Yeah, hey I need to know where Remy is or how I can get a hold of him."

The woman next to him stared hard at her. "Henri, is this the _fille_ you two were talking about?"

The man, Henri, nodded uncomfortably. _"Oui."_ He grimaced and spoke to Rogue. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you where Remy is."

"What?" Rogue growled, "Why the hell not?"

"_Chere," _The man raised an eyebrow, "You stole from my _frère _and killed his bike, in my situation what would you do?"

Rogue faltered, feeling deflated. That made sense, she wouldn't let anyone like that near Kitty or Jubilee without knowing them. She wondered if this whole track-him-down-and-make-him –talk thing would actually happen. She might as well give up now and join a convent because she was never going to be able to touch. Ever.

"Okay, fine." Rogue waved her hand dismissively, "Don't tell me where he is, tell him I asked though." She turned to walk away and a thought came to her. "But you should let him know, what I need to ask him could change my _entire _future! By not talking to me he could be subjecting me to a life of pain and loneliness!" Her voice broke on the last sentence and Rogue realized how insane she must sound. "Just let him know." She finished lamely and left.

Rogue made her way through the crowd much less forcefully than before, taking out her phone and texting her friends to tell them not to bother looking anymore. She ruined it by acting like a maniac in front of his brother, and running away after accusing him of being a mutant. Rogue doubted she'd meet a mutant with whatever powers Remy had again. Besides that, the only person who would have made any sense of it all was the professor. Giving up hope, Rogue concluded, was her best option. Nevertheless it wasn't in her nature no matter how hard she worked to squash it down.

***

"You can't just give up!" Kitty whined, pouting at Rogue childishly. "I like, want to know how he can touch you! Jube's, tell her!"

"You really think this guy's gonna avoid you now?" Jubilee asked. "Was it just a bad PMS freak out or an institutionalize me freak out?"

"Could go either way." Rogue sipped her latte and gave an irritated glance at the two of them. "It's of no importance anyway."

After texting the girls they decided to gather at a nearby café, all of them needing a drink, the sweltering heat outside nearly dehydrating Rogue. Inside the café was full of people, as well as outside, finding seats took ten minutes, every so often a person would bump into their table, not bothering to apologize.

"No giving up _Chica, _I know you said you told him we'd leave sometime today, but we could stay 'til our scheduled flight. That gives us two days."

"Yeah, like, today we can take a break from searching and party! Then like, tomorrow we will totally find him!"

"We could also look around a bit while we're there," Jubilee said, "He's big on the partying from what I can tell."

"Party, huh? Sure why not?" It was what Rogue came to New Orleans for, albeit reluctantly. She came here for fun, and she would get it. Stupid Cajun's be damned.

"'Kay then, let's go back to the hotel and change, I can put some make up on you and stuff, you should totally see the outfit we picked out for you!"

Rogue and Jubilee both followed their bubbly friend outside laughing, her enthusiasm affecting them profusely. For the first time in two days Rogue felt light hearted. She was in Louisiana, closer to home than she'd been in years, of course she should feel happy. Right now she'd wear any outfit her friends forced on to her, she didn't mind right now.

****

"Okay, put on this." Kitty threw an outfit at Rogue.

Rogue examined the clothes in laying her arms. The clothing was another dress, shorter than the other's she'd worn earlier that week. It ended just above her knees, like the others it was a dark forest green, when she walked the bottom of the dress whirled around her legs. She wore long boots that went to her knees, leaving the littlest bit of her thighs showing. To complete the outfit, Jubilee had given her a pair of long black ballroom style gloves with laces trailing up the sides. Rogues hair stayed down, they curled it slightly, letting it fan around her face.

The girl's only response to Rogue's complaint's on her clothing was to roll their eyes and usher her out of the room. Both of their outfits were much more revealing anyways. Jubilee had of course, worn yellow. She wore a yellow halter top and a white mini skirt, complete with brightly colored bangles and her usual pink shades. Kitty was wearing a longish red dress shirt over tights that stopped at her ankles; she added hoop earrings to her ensemble and rings to her fingers.

Rogue contemplated what she was going to say to Remy if she ran into him. Before settling on a specific bar they asked around about him, and the bartenders had none of the same reservations about talking to her as Remy's had. The way she heard it, he was out almost every night, picking up women and bringing them home. He was a playboy to a fault; Rogue doubted he would give up his habits just to avoid her. What could she say to him? 'Hey, I normally suck the life out of everyone I come into contact with but you're special, so would you stand still and let me touch you?' Actually, Rogue thought, that might work; he struck her as the daredevil type.

"Hey, can I buy you a drink?"

Rogue gave a glance over at her friends in the crowd, and then turned to the man next to her. She was feeling uncomfortable what she was wearing and could use a drink. And the guy speaking to her was cute, with his sandy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Sure," She leaned over flirtatiously, "Whatever you're having." Which is what she and her friends said to every guy asking if they wanted a drink, seeing as they hadn't a clue of what to order. Many times Rogue had ordered for herself she ended up wanting to gag after taking a sip. The psyches in her head, she decided, were no longer allowed to give suggestions on what she drank. One, she tended to forget she was at least a hundred pounds lighter than Logan, therefore passing out before the fun even began. And two, because Magneto's taste ran towards the pricey side and she wasn't going to drink wine at a bar.

So Rogue drank what was bought for her, choosing to let the decision go to someone _not _in her head.

The guy, Sam, was nice. A college student somewhere she'd never heard of, majoring in something she didn't remember. Rogue missed flirting casually, she realized, no one at the mansion felt comfortable enough with her to do so. Of course, this man wouldn't be comfortable either if he had any idea he was flirting with a mutant. She only listened halfheartedly, almost sorry for him, he really was sweet and trying hard to impress her but Rogue couldn't concentrate on what he was saying.

Instead Rogue's attention was drawn to the back of the room where she saw the woman that Remy's brother had been escorting earlier that day. She studied Rogue from where she stood, and raised a hand, beckoning her over.

" Excuse me," Rogue tapped Sam on the shoulder, "I'm sorry but I've gotta go." Poor guy, trying so hard just to spend money on a girl who wanted nothing more than to ditch him. As Rogue got up from the stool, she found her head spun slightly.

Rogue pushed her way through the throng of people, inspecting the woman. She was pretty and petite, with short blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She smiled when Rogue drew closer, holding out a perfectly manicured hand.

"Hello there, I don't believe we've met. I'm Mercy."

Rogue shook her hand warily, "Sophie."

"But that's not your real name is it?" Crap, of course she knew about Rogue.

"No." Best not to give out too much information unless she was going to get some on Remy.

Mercy laughed, knowing exactly where Rogue was heading with the one word answers. "Well then _Sophie_, Remy will be arriving here shortly if you'd like to wait with me."

"Oh yes please!" Mercy jumped, and Rogue blushed at her outburst, "It's just, I've been trying to get a hold of him and…"

"You're anxious to see him." Mercy nodded understandingly. "Why? Obviously he's good looking, but Henri said you ran away from Remy."

Rogue glanced at her, what to say? "Remy's power interests me," She noticed an angry expression beginning in the woman's eyes and hurriedly said, "Not that I want to examine him or anything!" That was a rising fear in the mutant community, his friends obviously cared for him.

"What I'd like to know is what his power is, it reacted weirdly to mine, it's never happened before and I panicked." Rogue gave her a sheepish face, turning her head.

"Hmmm." Mercy frowned. "Well anyway, here he is. I have to go meet Henri somewhere else." She pat Rogue on the shoulder, and walked past where Remy was standing. "Bye."

As Remy started towards her she stilled. She hadn't truly expected to run into him today, so she had no clue what she was going to ask. Add the fact that she was buzzed, and a potential disaster was in Rogue's hands.

"_Bonjour,_ _chere,_ I was told you were looking for me?"

"Uhh, yeah." Rogue shifted, she didn't know what to say.

"What can you do?!" Okay, well forwardness was always good. He stared, assessing her.

"What can you do?" He smiled, not giving anything up.

"I affect other mutant's abilities, it didn't work on yours." Rogue responded, lowering her voice and glaring at him. "So tell me, what the hell can you do?"

"You were trying to do something to Remy?" He demanded, "And you have the nerve to ask what he does?"

"No!" Rogue cried, "It isn't that, my powers," She tried to find a way to make him understand. "I can't you know, control them." Rogue said the last part under her breath.

Immediately after saying this his face softened, she knew that look, it was sympathy. The face of a mutant who had been through the same thing. She might have a chance of getting an answer now.

"Could we find a quieter place to talk, please?" Rogue pleaded.

"Sure _chere_, let's go." Remy led her to the back door of the bar, and they walked out to the alleyway behind the building. Rogue turned her back to him once they were outside and took a deep breath. She couldn't afford to screw this up.

"What do you need to know about Remy?"

"What your powers are first, I guess."

"Ah," Remy grinned at her and reached into his trench coat, pulling out a pack of playing cards. "Dis one can kinetically charge inanimate objects." He took a single card and raised it up, the card glowed a fuchsia color and he threw it in the air where it exploded.

"Kinetically charge, does it affect your body as well?"

"Suppose so, Remy touched you didn't he?"

There was really only one way to find out. Rogue cringed, asking him would no doubt bring on every dirty comment the man could think of.

"Okay Cajun, take of the coat."

"_Excusez moi?"_

"You heard me Swamp Rat. Coat. Off. Now." Rogue demanded.

Remy smirked, shrugging the leather over and off his shoulders, holding his arms out to her. "Go ahead _chere, _touch me."

Rogue's face flamed, she couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. She was giving him every opportunity to embarrass her. She took off her gloves slowly, hesitantly reaching towards his arms.

She had forgotten how long it'd been since she last touched another person. Sure, she used her powers on her teammates in the danger room, but with the pull of her ability she was too focused on trying to stay sane. Remy's skin felt different than hers, she traced her fingertips over his burns. Nothing was happening, no pull no tingle. Actually there was a tingling sensation starting in Rogue's lower belly and she shuddered.

"Anything wrong _chere?"_ Remy asked, sounding almost genuinely concerned.

"Nothing, it's just been a while." She brought both her hands up his arms, her fingers curling around his biceps. Rogue stopped thinking for a moment and put her hands over his stomach, bringing up his shirt. Remy breathed in, grabbing her hands and holding them away from him.

"_Belle,_ you shouldn't do that to strange men."

"But you're not strange," Rogue protested, touching his cheek, "Not at all, now take off your glasses."

Remy pushed back, "_Non."_

"Why not?"

"Remy's eyes are not normal, they might frighten you."

Rogue snorted, "Off, Cajun. Whatever it is I've seen worse."

He took the glasses off slowly, looking at her in an attempt to gauge her reaction. His eyes were beautiful in Rogues opinion, glowing red on black for such an unusual color it suited him. She stretched on her toes to get closer to his face, holding the back of his head to keep him in place. She searched his eyes for a moment, and kissed him.

It probably surprised Rogue as much as it surprised Remy. It had been a long time since touching someone else, and he was beautiful, charming, and southern. The last person she had kissed was Bobby, right before they broke up. This was nothing like kissing Bobby. Bobby had been awkward and clumsy like the teenage boy that he was. Remy was so much smoother, working his tongue into her mouth gently and pulling her closer. She grasped at him, pushing his shirt up again to touch more skin. It wasn't enough though. She wanted more, she needed to touch every inch of his skin and she couldn't do that in an alleyway.

Rogue pushed him away, staring hard at him, "So Cajun, you mentioned you had a place near here right?"

Remy grinned at her and hurried them out to the street, leading her to a brand new bike and handing her a helmet.

****

Rogue giggled as Remy hit his head on a cupboard, halfway through the apartment he had to stop and go find protection, apparently he had used up the stash in his room. The irritation of this passed quickly however as he handed her a bottle of wine. She drank one glass as she watched him search, realizing she had already drank earlier that evening and wasn't thinking straight. She decided she'd worry about it in the morning. Rogue sat there on his counter half dressed, she was in her bra and panties, wearing a shirt of Remy's. She hadn't gotten fully undressed, seeing as they hadn't made it into the bedroom. She definantly looked it, her hair mussed and tangled. She laughed again while she thought of what she was going to tell the girls in the morning.

"Aha!" Remy turned around, "Remy knew he bought some this week!"

He pressed into Rogue and leaned down to kiss her, she raised her head to meet him halfway and groaned.

"Crap!"

"Crap?" Remy frowned, "What now?"

"I never told the girls I was leaving!" Rogue whined, "They're going to freak."

"No worries _chere."_ He kissed her throat, making his way down to her collarbone. "Tell them in the morning."

As Remy said this, they heard pounding at his door and voices from outside. Rogue hit Remy on the chest forcefully.

"You totally jinxed it, now they're here and I'm never going to do it again!"

"Remy!" A deep voice sounded from the other side of the door. "I'm coming in, cover up whatever _femme_ you've got in there and get her out."

Remy pulled Rogue off of the counter and they scrambled into the living room, picking up the discarded clothes as the door opened. Rogue grabbed her dress and gloves, shoving on the gloves first and heading to the bathroom to change.

"Rogue?" A commanding and feminine voice stopped her in her tracks. Remy looked over to her when she stopped, sending her a get-out-of-here gesture.

" 'Ro!" Rogue squeaked, turning to face her headmaster and teacher, Ororo Munroe.

AN- My next update might not be until the weekend, schools back in and I'm attempting to graduate high school early. I only have two hours of class, but my teachers don't actually teach and I have to figure out my math work all on my own. :( Sorry if this was sorta a cliffhanger. I tried to make it longer this time but it sounded kind of funny when I reread it, so if it sounds like it's run together or if it has grammatical errors tell me please.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

Rogue looked up at her teacher, speechless. What the hell was she doing in Remy's apartment? Why did these things happen to her? The two mutants stared at each other, neither of them speaking. She racked her brain for any possible reason Ororo could have for coming to New Orleans and could think of nothing. And even if she came to New Orleans, the girls wouldn't squeal on her. Well maybe Kitty, but usually only to other students.

"Stormy?" Remy spoke, breaking the silence. Rogue shot a startled glance at him, he knew her? He called her by codename as well, and that might mean he was aware of her being a mutant. She knew for sure that he wasn't an x-man; the school required them to know the names of all mutants affiliated with the school.

"Ororo, you know dis _fille?"_ A gruff voice questioned from the doorway, Rogue peered over at the man speaking. He was tall and well built, probably in his late forties, early fifties if she had to guess. He was intimidating, and glaring at her and Remy. She wasn't wearing any pants, just Remy's shirt which thankfully went to her thighs and was clutching her dress to her chest.

"Remy Lebeau, is there a reason you're standing here half dressed with my _seventeen-year-old student" _Storm questionedhim. All eyes turned to Rogue as her face flamed bright red. She had no idea what to say, 'Sorry Storm, but apparently I can touch this guy so I decided to do it with him and then head back home to a life of celibacy.' Yeah, that would work, she laughed.

"Something amusing about this situation Rogue?" Storm glared at her, a rare occurrence for the usually mellow woman.

"No ma'am." Storm walked up to Rogue, giving her a once over, and frowning. She brought Rogue's chin up and examined her face.

"Have you been drinking young lady?"

"No!" Rogue sputtered, "Well, yes. But not that much I swear!"

"You're not even eighteen yet, what were you doing drinking alcohol?"

Rogue looked longingly towards the bathroom door. "May I… change first, please?" Her voice cracked as she asked, she gave Storm her most desperate expression.

Her teacher just massaged her temples and sighed. "If you must. We will be in the kitchen when you come out."

Rogue dashed for the bathroom less than a second after grabbing her purse on the way, slamming the door behind her and clicking the lock in place. She hopped up onto the sink and pulled her phone out, hitting the speed dial for Jubilee's cell. They might know why Storm was here, and what she should say to the three waiting outside for her.

"_Hello_?" Jubilee's voice came over the phone, "_Rogue, where are you? We didn't see you leave_." A retching sound could be heard through the phone and Rogue grimaced.

"Who is that?"

"_Kitty. We had to leave early because apparently she can't handle her liquor_." Jubilee groaned. "_Now I have to hold her hair, there aren't any hairties laying around now that I need one_."

"So you haven't seen Storm tonight?" Rogue pressed, "Because she's here with me right now."

"_In New Orleans?! Why? Wait, where are you_?"

"Remy's place, we really," She ran a hand through her hair, "Hit it off. But Storm and another man showed up at his door, apparently Remy knows her."

"_Shit! Is she coming to the hotel? Does she know where we've been_?" Jubilees voice turned suspicious, "_Is she standing next to you_?"

"No! I'm in the bathroom getting dressed, they're all in the kitchen."

"_Rogue! You weren't dressed?_!"

"Look, I need to go, I just wanted to know if you knew why she was here. Bye."

"_Bu-_"

Rogue hung up, taking a deep breath and attempting to mentally prepare herself for the questions that would no doubt be thrown her way.

***

When Rogue entered the kitchen Storm and the older man were sitting at the table speaking in low voices, Remy was leaning against the wall next to them tilting his head up and closing his eyes.

"Rogue, sit down please." Storm asked.

Rogue sat in the chair across from the both of them. Rogue watched Storm through her lashes, not having the guts to stare her straight in the face. She really screwed up, she hadn't considered it when Storm first came in, but her teacher was an honest woman and Rogue would be surprised if she _didn't _tell Logan about tonight. He'd tear Remy to shreds if he found out. Rogue fidgeted with a napkin in her hands, tearing the edges of as she waited to hear the lecture prepared for her. She only wished that Storm wasn't about to give it in front of two men she barely knew, one of which she had just been caught in a awkward situation with.

Storm reached over to Rogue and took the napkin from Rogue, tossing it into a trash can a few feet away. "Rogue I'd like you to meet a dear friend of mine, Jean-Luc, Remy's father."

His father. Remy's father and he saw her practically unclothed. It explained why Remy was so tense, he hadn't said or looked at anyone. His father was studying Rogue intently, his expression was somber and he held out a hand for her to shake.

"_Bonjour _Rogue, it is…a pleasure to meet you, considering the circumstances." He said, "I've heard much about you, from both Remy and Storm."

"Thank you, nice to meet you too." Rogue was appalled at the thought of Remy speaking to his family about her, nothing good, seeing how she treated him earlier in the week. In the past five days she stole from him, wrecked his bike, and within the past few hours had almost done some seriously inappropriate things with him. Rogue contemplated telling everyone that she hadn't actually _done _anything, but it wasn't the best excuse, she would have if no one showed up.

"Rogue, the reason why I let you go on this trip," Storm gave her a pointed glance, "Was not purely for _educational _purposes."

"We believe the government is going to be releasing a modified cure, unlike the first version however it will be mandatory. Now I am aware that you've taken the cure, but I'm hoping that with it being a threat to all mutants you may change your mind. Before you decide I also need to tell you that we think the Brotherhood is going to try and fight the government."

"What does this have to do with you flying out here? I mean, we need to know this of course, but why didn't you just pick up a phone?"

"Having large groups of mutants together will arouse suspicions, so I've decided to send the students back home to their families, not every student has a home to go back to so the teachers at the institute are calling in favors. I was in New Orleans to speak to Jean-Luc about having students of mine stay with him, given what has happened I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Rogue was appalled at herself. She had completely ruined things for Storm by acting foolishly with some guy she'd just met. "I'm _so _sorry Storm, it was stupid and childish and it will never happen again, I swear. There isn't anything going on, he can touch me, that's all."

"He can touch you?" Storm was alarmed at this, Rogue wondered why she hadn't realized it when they walked in on them, but let the thought slide. "So you meet some strange man that you obviously have no defense against and you go to his apartment? You should have more sense than this!"

"I know Storm, and I promise I won't do anything like this again. You don't have to change plans because of me, really."

"Remy, you still stay at the manor most of the time, yes?" Storm spoke to him quietly.

"_Oui._ Remy will be a perfect gentleman if your students stay, he would never have done anything to cause you such stress Stormy."

"Thank you Remy, you can start by not calling me that."

" No can do, Stormy. Jean-Luc, I am going to leave now if there is nothing else you need me for?"

"_Non,_ you may leave." Jean-Luc dismissed his son with a shooing gesture.

"Rogue," Storm picked her cell off the table, "I'll call a cab for you to return to the hotel, I have no desire to know what you and the others were doing these past few days, as long as they don't happen again. I will be over tomorrow at ten to pick you up and bring you to the Lebeau mansion, be ready and packed by then. I want to have breakfast with just you tomorrow, to discuss this whole 'touching' issue."

***

Remy rode home in a dazed state, his father was going to kill him the second they were alone. Storm had been a friend a friend of the family for years, she had worked with that school since her late teens and the family knew how important her students were to her. His Tante was going to give him hell for weeks at least, his brother for longer than that when he found out.

There were a lot of mutants in the world today, how was he supposed to know this one was a student of hers. And seventeen. She didn't strike him as a seventeen year old, she had an older feel about her, in a cynical sort of way. Her name was Rogue, it suited her much better than the name on her fake ID. It felt right on his tongue as he said it. It was a pity Remy wasn't going to get to touch her again. She had adamantly told Storm she wouldn't be doing anything with him and he'd heard the truth in her voice, she didn't want to upset her teacher.

Remy walked in through the back of the manor and joined his brother and sister-in-law on the large patio area near the entrance of the backdoor. Mercy smiled at him as he ascended the steps. "Remy, you're back so soon. We assumed you'd be out with the _fille _all night, you left pretty quick together."

"_Oui,_ we left fast. Have you heard of the students of Stormy's that are staying with us starting tomorrow?"

"Yeah, a couple of mutant teens."

"Well, the _femmes _one of them, and our _pere _and Stormy walked in on us." Remy grabbed a bottle of bourbon that was sitting on the table and drank.

"No!" Henri burst out laughing and Mercy covered her mouth, trying to contain her giggles. They both laughed on and off for a good five minutes before Remy couldn't take any more.

"Hey, enough already!" Remy shouted, "S'not that funny, so quiet!"

"You're right Remy you're a playboy, this stuff probably happens to you all the time." Mercy teased him. "So does this mean they aren't staying with us?"

"They are, but I don't think I'm going to be allowed in the same room as her."

Remy walked into the house as they both erupted in laughter again, not in the mood to be laughed at.

****

Rogue sat in silence with her two best friends. She had gone back to the hotel and relayed what Strom asked her to tell them. Kitty and Jubilee couldn't get enough of her and Remy's mishap. Rogue lightened up after her friends reassured her Storm was forgiving and all would be forgotten. Kitty had passed out shortly after, leaving Rogue and Jubilee to revel in the dire situation they suddenly found themselves in. If the institute wasn't a safe haven for mutants any longer, then they must be in trouble. Rogue wondered where everyone else was staying, only around fifty of the students at Xavier's had homes outside the school.

"Do you suppose Mr. Logan is back at mansion helping out?" Jubilee whispered, they lied in bed for several moments with the lights off before resuming their talk.

"Maybe, he normally calls if he's back home."

"Hmm." Neither spoke for several seconds. "Hey Rogue, do you want the government to cure us?"

"No. I mean I want to be cured but this is America, land of the free right? We should have a choice."

"Oh, cool I thought you might not think of it that way."

AN- Sorry this was shorter than usual, the next one will be longer with the girls showing up at the Lebeau household. Once again, tell me if there are any grammatical errors. oe tHe'd tear Remy to shredsH


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

The next morning before leaving the hotel Storm showed up to have a talk with Rogue. They had gone down to the café attached to the first floor lobby to eat breakfast. Storm, always the polite one, chatted casually with Rogue as she ordered, saving the serious subjects for when they were seated and could speak face to face.

"Rogue, I would have thought out of all my students that you would have more sense than this. Running off with a strange man in an unfamiliar city? You could have been seriously hurt." Storm listed off every imaginable thing that could have happened until Rogue couldn't look her in the eye.

Rogue knew this already, she wasn't stupid. She was impulsive and naïve maybe, but not stupid.

"I know Storm, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry." Rogue felt like she was set on repeat, she couldn't stop saying sorry.

"I need your word that you will _never_ do something so foolish again, as a student in my school you are my responsibility."

"I promise ma'am, I will never, ever do _anything_ like this again. I swear."

Storm leaned forward and stared intently at her student. Moving back and nodding after a few seconds, apparently satisfied.

It was only 8 o'clock and while Rogue was still a teenager, she needed caffeine to wake herself up. She was positive that whatever drink Storm had bought for her was _not _caffeinated. Storm was going to ask more questions, she could tell by the way she pursed her lips and stared. She would much rather go through this questioning with coffee, _thank you very much._

"How did you come to realize you and Remy could touch?"

"Well," Rogue paused hesitantly, "He just sort of touched my shoulder, and I couldn't feel anything, no memories or powers. I didn't know he was a mutant before that, I hadn't seen his eyes."

"So you two met before tonight?"

"Yeah, the day after we got here," her face darkened, "Slimy Cajun stole my wallet."

"Really." Storm put her head in her hands and smiled. "Remy always makes an impression on the ladies. Then you confronted him in the bar last night?"

Rogue sighed and scrunched her eyes closed. "No, the girls and I went to a bar that night and saw him again. I wanted to get back at him, I was angry you know? Jubilee and Kitty kept dancing, I went up to Remy and flirted a bit. When we went to go dance, I kinda stole the keys to his motorcycle."

Her teacher looked up, shocked, and started to speak.

"Wait!" Rogue held up a hand to stop her. "Let me get through this please? Then you can be angry as much as you'd like."

"I didn't actually hotwire the bike, I stole his keys first." She started again, trying to ignore the way Storm was staring at her. This was going to take a while.

***

"How'd it go?" Jubilee asked.

Storm had to leave that morning for the school, she gave Rogue the address to the Lebeau mansion and handed over a few cards with numbers in the case of an emergency. A few short, stern speeches on responsibility and protection later she left. Rogue didn't think she would ever be as humiliated as she was that day. First, her teacher walks in on a situation with a man that was anything but g-rated, then she's informed that she has to go stay with said man and his family. Not to mention his father who was accompanying Storm that night. Right now she was in the hotel room packing up the last of her things, talking to the two of her friends.

"Awful, as expected. Lots of talk on being more responsible and careful. Boring, embarrassing, nothing I want to speak about anytime soon."

"Aww, poor Rogue!" Kitty skipped across the room and hugged her friend. Rogue squirmed in her grasp, pushing her off none too gently.

"No touching. And I'll get over it. Eventually."

The alarm set on Rogue's cell went off and she took it out to see the time. "Time to go, our cab's probably here."

Rogue watched in pity as the cab driver helped stuff luggage into the trunk of the car, her one bag was at the bottom, she carried her purse with her. Jubilee had two large suitcases, over packed and hard to lift but they fit in alright. Kitty however, had brought one large bag and several other smaller bags for different accessories and belongings. She was sure that at some point in this trip Kitty was going to lose something important, all because she wanted to use a full matching set of luggage.

"So how long are we going to be here?" Jubilee scooted in next to her.

"Don't know, a few days, weeks maybe. Storm said she might call us back if they need help." The institute was short staffed already, the older students were in charge of many tasks the teachers didn't have time for. They might also be needed in upcoming fights with the brotherhood.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes, contemplating the next few days. The scenery around them was beautiful, Rogue had forgotten how much she missed being south. It just felt like home.

"I'll bet twenty dollars that the Brotherhood attacks first!" Kitty exclaimed, startling her friends and their driver.

"Kitty!" Rogue squealed, appalled. "Don't do that!"

"No way, fifty that the government will hit 'em with the cure first."Jubilee leaned over Rogue to grin at Kitty.

"You guys." She groaned. "Stop, somehow you're gonna jinx this."

"We won't jinx it, _chica._" Jube's pat her on the back enthusiastically. "And we're here."

"Wow, and I thought the mansion was huge. How many people you suppose live here?"

"Wait a minute!" Kitty grabbed Rogues arm. "We never did find out if he's a psychopathic killer! Mutant or not, we can't like, just walk in to his evil layer." She whispered dramatically to the others.

"Kitty, no one is going to kill us, Storm knows these people."

"Fine. " She huffed. "You ring the bell."

Rogue rolled her eyes and rang the doorbell. Seconds later they heard the sound of running feet and raised voices. There was a loud 'bang' against the door before it opened, revealing a smiling young man.

"Huh. Remy said you were a _belle femme, _so why'd you settle for a slimy cheat like him?" He reached out and grabbed Rogue's hand, shaking quickly then moving on to the others.

"Emil!" Remy walked out to the doorstep, holding his head. "Ignore anything that one says _chere."_

T he boy, Emil, and Remy were both grinning ear to ear and Rogue felt her face heating up. Apparently everyone heard about her, she wondered how many people were in his family.

"What's your name _ma chere?"_ The boy asked Jubilee, this time bringing the girls hand to his lips. Her friend angled her head around him and raised an eyebrow at Rogue.

She shrugged, maybe the flirty nature was genetic.

"Remy! Don't just stand there, bring the _filles _in!" A female voice called from inside the house. Rogue took note of the two men's cringes.

Rogue observed the house in awe as she trailed after Remy. It was beautifully decorated, most of the furniture appeared to be antiques, the family was obviously wealthy. She decided she would definantly have to take the time to explore the house thoroughly before they left.

They ended up in the back of the house in the kitchen where there were more people waiting for them. Remy's brother and wife stood from their seats at the table as they entered. Mercy stepped forward first to introduce herself.

"I'm Mercy, the names are Jubilation and Katherine, yes?" She shook Kitty's hand.

"You can call me Jubilee and her Kitty." Jubilee corrected her.

"This is my husband, Henri," She gestured, "And our Tante Mattie."

Tante Mattie was a heavy set dark woman, maybe in her fifties, Rogue couldn't tell. When she started to speak Rogue recognized her voice as the commanding tone that had ordered them inside.

"You'll be calling me Tante Mattie too, _oui?"_

"Yes, ma'am." Rogue replied, the woman held authority in her stance, what else could she say?

"So y'all live up north, you're not those vegetarian types, hmm?" Tante Mattie asked as she went over to the stove.

"Oh no ma'am, we're all meat lover's here." Kitty said.

"It's Tante. And that's good, I've already got the food cooking."

"Remy, Emil, show the girls to their rooms. Jean-Luc will be here later and we'll get to know everybody over dinner."

Remy nodded for Rogue to follow him. Emil led the others towards a different doorway opposite to them. Rogue rolled her eyes at the dramatic sweeping motion Remy made towards the hallway but followed anyways.

"So Swamp Rat, you usually live here, or at the apartment?"

"Here. Sorry _chere, _guess you're stuck with me." He turned and grinned at her.

"Hmph, you don't sound sorry." She grumbled under her breath.

A/N- So sorry! School is soo troublesome! And it's shorter and faster than usual, but the only time I ever feel creative is during class, or when I have absolutely no time to write. There will be more of Remy and his family next chapter and it will be _way _better. Promise.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer- Don't own 'em.**

The room Rogue had been given was nice. Slightly larger than her own back home, with a TV, and a queen sized bed. It's décor similar to that of the rest of the house, antique, but not overly masculine or feminine.

Right now she was lying around waiting for Remy to show her to the dining room. She had gotten in late the night before, then hadn't slept very much because of worrying. Rogue napped for a good portion of the afternoon, and lazily watched cartoons 'til four. After taking a shower and getting dressed, it was almost six. She wanted to go see Kitty and Jubilee but they were on the other side of the manor and she didn't know where their rooms were.

Rogue sat up as she heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

"_Chere?_ You ready for dinner?" The door opened and Remy's head peeked through the entrance.

"Yeah."

Rogue got off the bed and walked over to him. She couldn't understand why _he _had to be the one to escort her around; there were plenty of other people in the house who were available. Remy obviously noticed her mood because he smirked at her and slung his arm around her shoulders.

"Aww, put a smile on that face of yours, _oui?"_

"Quiet Swamp Rat."

Remy led her through the house while she followed dazedly behind. "How many rooms do you have here?"

"'Bout 20-ish bedrooms, a living room, rec rooms, basement, and kitchen. Family comes over every day, so we can use the space. It's nice, _non?"_

"Just nice?" Rogue snorted.

"That mansion of yours is pretty big too."

"Well yeah, but I share it with more than a hundred other mutants, it gets crowded."

Remy laughed, "I'd bet. How do you keep the place from getting destroyed?"

"Not a clue, the Professor was always good with the students."

Rogue heard the sound of laughter and voices as Remy led her towards the large doorway leading into the dining room. There were many more people here than she had expected and she told Remy so.

"Family dinners are big around here, _chere."_

Rogue saw an empty seat beside Jubilee and Kitty and sat down without further acknowledgment of Remy. She did however, grimace when he took the seat opposite of her.

No one had been served yet, though there were trays of food sitting in the center of the table. Tante Mattie wasn't there, and neither was Remy's father. Emil spoke up a few times from his seat to introduce the girls to the other members of Remy's 'family'.

Rogue had begun to believe that they really were in an illegitimate business. None of the men at the table appeared anything less than dangerous, a few of the women as well.

Tante Mattie and Jean-Luc came in just then to take their respective seats. Jean Luc stopped first to introduce himself to Jubilee and Kitty and to greet Rogue. Everyone started serving themselves after he sat and the conversations grew.

"So girls," Remy's father spoke, "How long have you been at Xavier's?" The talking nearest them hushed a bit, to let the head of the table speak.

"Well, like, my parent's sent me there about four years ago." Kitty responded, then motioned to Jubilee. "Jube's showed up a few months later, and then Rogue and Logan came a little later."

"Logan?"

Jubilee started talking before Rogue could open her mouth to answer. "He's this big scary Canadian guy, in charge of our self-defense classes 'n stuff. They just showed up all bloody and unconscious."

Remy choked on his drink as Tante Mattie looked her over seriously.

"Jubilee!" Rogue hissed. Weren't they capable of answering a simple question without making everything sound suspicious?

"Well they asked!" Jubilee faced Jean Luc again, "But he's really a big softie and Rogue isn't nearly as depressing as she first appears."

Rogue turned her head away to roll her eyes. Remy caught her gaze and winked like he knew exactly how she felt about all of this.

****

Remy watched Rogue's expression as her friends conversed with his father. So far she hadn't been able to get a word in; she seemed to have given up trying.

He decided this would be the perfect opportunity to chat. "_Chere."_

She wasn't listening to him; her eyes were downcast towards her plate and unfocused. "Rogue."

Still nothing. "_Mon _River Rat?"

That got her attention, "Don't call me that Cajun, I'm not your anything." She snapped, glaring at him.

Remy smiled, her indignant expression was adorable. Storm had taken him aside the night they were caught together and given him a piece of her mind. According to his friend he was under _no _circumstances to continue any sort of relationship with Rogue.

Like he'd actually listen to her. It wasn't the first time that Remy had been given such a speech. Though usually given by angry fathers or in a few cases his own father, he'd never heeded those orders.

Remy decided it would be for the better to start off casual, since she had somehow reverted back to hating him. "Sure thing, _mon chere. _Other than the… incidents that have happened between us, how do you like New Orleans?"

She loved it here, he could tell. And it wasn't just his empathy that cued him in, her face lit up for a second before she forced it into a frown and growled at him.

"Other than the _incidents?!_ You messed up my entire vacation!"

"Remy messed it up? It takes two, dis one didn't do anything you haven't done." He retorted. She'd been pretty eager the other night.

"You started it! You stole my wallet, that started everything!"She huffed. "I would have had a perfect time if not for you!"

Remy agreed with that to a point, he _had_ started it. His and Rogue's lives would have intertwined at some time during her trip however.

"Stormy still would have asked that you stay with us!" Members of his family were starting to notice and he lowered his voice.

"I never would have tried to _sleep_ with a family friend of my _teacher_!"

"Children." Tante Mattie raised her voice and glared at them.

Remy and Rogue both lowered their heads, neither wanting to be referred to as `child'.

****

Dinners with the Lebeau family were long and arduous. Almost two hours later they were just barely starting on dessert. Rogue had become accustomed to dinners at the mansion where, with the exception of holidays, they could shove down their food and leave when they wanted. Here, everyone stayed until they were finished eating, then conversed for another hour afterword.

"So girls, we haven't discussed your abilities at all yet." Jean Luc called attention back to Rogue and her friends.

Rogue realized that for as much as they talked, the Lebeau's focused the questions toward the girls and not towards their family.

All three stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about what to say. Rogue's power always sounded awful when described out loud. Most mutants powers did, even the fun ones. Remy's father may have been okay with his own son, but who knew how he was with other mutants?

"Well," Jubilee went first, "I can make fireworks, sort of." She held up her hands and produced a few sparks for demonstration. "It's what the shades are for; they can get a bit bright."

Jean Luc stared intently at Jubilee in a way that Rogue wasn't sure she liked. He was a nice enough man, but he had the air of someone powerful, and she didn't trust that. He looked at Rogue, raising an eyebrow as a signal for her to speak.

"I'm poisonous." Rogue blurted, trying to get the explanation over with. "In a way, I mean. I absorb people's life, energy, memories, powers. It happens with skin to skin contact."

She felt Remy's gaze on her, when she told him about her power she never went into much detail. He probably didn't think much on the fact that she could've killed him that night.

"Kitty." Rogue tried to call the attention away from herself.

"Oh! Right!" Kitty grinned, out of all the mutants Rogue had known, Kitty was the proudest when it came to her powers. "Well I can like, phase through pretty much anything. It's super useful actually, unless I'm going through something electrical or whatnot."

"You can `phase'" Jean Luc repeated. "I'm not sure I understand the term."

"It means I can walk through, like, walls and doors and stuff."

Rogue could have sworn you could hear a pin drop in that moment. She watched as Jean Luc's face went from completely startled to absolutely delighted. The last sentence brought the other diners to attention. Her stomach dropped and she glanced over at Remy, who gave her a wary expression.

Jean Luc was still smiling when he asked, "Could you, hypothetically speaking, walk straight through a vault door?"

"Yeah, sure. Vaults aren't that hard, the only thing I've ever had trouble with is adamantium and that's super rare anywa—"

"Kit!" Rogue pinched the valley girl under the table. "Shut. Up." She whispered.

"Ouch!" Kitty whined. "Why?"

"Mr. Lebeau." Rogue addressed the man. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel it's fair for us to divulge this information without first knowing more about you."

Rogue knew she was walking on eggshells by asking this of him. If the family hadn't already disclosed what they did for a living, they probably wouldn't want to now.

Jean Luc clasped his fingers together and rested his chin on top. "Very well, I suppose Ororo would not want to worry you. However it seems as though it would be for the best for us to inform you. You are familiar with the concepts of mafias, organized crime and such?"

Rogue nodded and ignored the wild looks Kitty was sending her way.

"Well New Orleans is run by what we call `Guilds'. The Lebeau family has, for generations, run a guild known as the Theives Guild."

A/N- Whoa. My eyes _hurt._ Staring at a computer screen in the dark is soo not recommended. Still short, I know. But I don't know how soon I'll be able to get up another chapter. And you know, I always thought that Remy and Kitty would make the coolest couple, I mean c'mon, she can walk through walls!


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

Rogue stared at Jean Luc for a full two minutes before speaking. "A Thieves Guild. Storm sent us to live with a man who runs a, what? A mob?"

By this point Kitty was practically jumping in her seat, overjoyed with the fact that she had been right on about the Lebeau's. The rest of the family at the table was silent, most had finished their desserts and decided to quickly leave the room and avoid conflict. _Good choice, _Rogue thought, _in what universe would Storm send us here?_

Jean Luc's lips quirked up at the girls' reactions. "Of course, in the case of an emergency who better to fight?"

"So she sent us to live with criminals! I can't see her doing that."

Storm was such a pacifist, Rogue couldn't imagine her sending her own students to live with some mafia. Tante Mattie was still sitting at the table, watching them all with a critical eye and a disapproving frown. Jubilee was slouching down into her seat, covering her face and avoiding eye contact. Both of her friends were well aware of her temper and knew better than to get in her way.

"_Pere,"_ Remy broke in before his father could argue, "Perhaps it would be best for us to let her speak with Stormy first."

The two regarded each other and his father eventually nodded. "Very well, you may go call your teacher now."

Rogue was quickly losing her temper with this man. Just who did he think he was? "I _may _go?!"

Remy was by her side in an instant. "I'll show Rogue back to her room, just in case she's forgotten where it is."

And with that he grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of the room. Rogue immediately began struggling to free her arm from his grasp. "Let me go you annoying Cajun!"

His grasp didn't loosen until they were out of earshot and even then he turned her around and held on to her gloved hands. He continued to drag her through a hallway she hadn't been in before. Rogue let her protests die on her lips when she saw the pained look on his face.

"Please _chere_ just call Stormy, she'll tell you that she knows all about us." Remy lowered his head so that the two could speak eye to eye. "Don't go around pissing off _mon pere_. He's not exactly the nicest man."

Rogue blinked slowly at him, processing what he was saying. " Do you usually go around warning people about your own father?"

"_Non._ However, none of them are living under the same roof as him."

_It figured that these things happen to me, _Rogue thought, _it just wouldn't be right if everything went well for once._

"Okay Swamp Rat, I think it's time you told me all these little secrets you've been hiding." She looked at him crossly, "Let's go to my room."

***

Remy wasn't so forthcoming when it came to telling her anything, but after a bit more prodding on her part he relented.

The first thing he revealed to her was that Jean-Luc wasn't in fact his real father. No one in the guild was related him. Not that he didn't consider them to be family he assured her, but Remy and his father had trouble seeing eye to eye on some subjects. Apparently Remy had gotten caught picking Jean-Luc's pocket when he was an orphan on the streets, and the man had then deemed him worthy of the guild.

While he spoke, Rogue paid close attention to his face and the tone of his voice. She found it amusing how he was able to go from speaking so admirably about his father to acting as if he'd be better off dead. He never once spoke ill of his brother however, and his face lit up when he talked about his Tante.

Remy was a little more close lipped on the workings of the guild, but he did mention that it worked somewhat like a mob in the sense that they controlled a lot of the crime in the city. He also told her that there was one other guild in the city, called the assassins guild. He wouldn't tell her anything more than that they were fierce rivals of the thieves, and he refused to go any further into it.

"Well, are we in danger of them by staying here?" She pressed, "Shouldn't we know more?"

"_Non,_ this is supposed to be a safe house _chere._ You don't have to worry."

The two stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them speaking. It seemed as if Remy wanted to say something more, but was holding back. Rogue kept her face tilted downwards, watching him through her eyelashes. He shuffled on his feet a bit, waiting for her to do something.

Rogue groaned and flopped back on her bed. "Fine, I need to call Storm now. Go." She made a shooing motion with her hand.

He smirked at her and turned towards her door. "As you wish, just remember _chere _I am but a few doors away."

She gazed at his back as he walked out the door, considering the past hour they had spent together. Sharing all of this information with her seemed awfully out of character for him, and she did appreciate it. "Hey, Swamp Rat."

Remy stopped and glanced back at her. "Hmm?"

"Thanks." She said, and turned her back to pull out her phone, waiting until she heard the door click shut behind her to start dialing.

"How could you send us to live with these people!"

***

"Is she speaking with Ororo?" Remy's father spoke to him from where he sat behind his desk. Jean-Luc had called Remy into his study shortly after his talk with Rogue, demanding to know just what he had revealed to the girl.

"_Oui."_

He heaved a sigh and leaned back to give Remy a hard stare. "You've got a job tonight; Henri says he can't do it."

Remy perked up, interested. He hadn't been assigned any challenging heists lately, and if his brother didn't think he was capable of it, it must be good. Though his brother was the eldest and had started his training years before Remy did, there was no question that the youngest son had the superior skills.

"What is it?"

The older man massaged his temples with a grimace. "Information from the government. It's a guild assignment."

"On the cure?" That had to be it, what else did the Lebeau's need to know from them?

"Yes, they have a military base here in Louisiana that I need you to infiltrate. And I _need_ you to be careful, if there was anyone else who had the skills and wasn't a mutant we would use them."

Remy grabbed a folder his father held out towards him and rifled through the contents. "Doesn't look so hard, in and out, _oui?"_

"_Imbecile,_ chances are they have those damned cure guns. It should be simple, just don't get yourself killed."

***

It was a good three-hour drive to where Remy needed to be, and thankfully his brother had already mapped out the majority of entrances and camera blind spots. As far as jobs went, Remy already considered this one to be a success; barely an hour out he came across a bike the exact same model as the one his _chere _had wrecked. He decided to ditch his cheaper replacement and lift the new beauty instead.

Breaking into the base turned out to be more difficult than he had expected, not that he wasn't able to break in, but every guard near the main entrance was armed with mutant-effective weapons. A pack of exploding cards on the other side of the base proved to be an effective enough distraction, and he reached his destination faster than anticipated.

His destination was the records room, he didn't have time to hack the computer system and was relying solely on paper records. Thankfully, he found that they kept paper records of almost everything.

The first thing he found was that they were indeed working on a new and improved cure, but it was still in its testing stage and there was nothing regarding on how they were planning to distribute it. From what he could tell, right now the cure was more lethal than helpful and killed more mutants than it cured. He found no records on the mutants being tested on, and Remy didn't even want to think about where they were finding mutants to experiment on. Remy assumed that the ones in the experiments were being wiped out of the system, to avoid taking the blame later on.

There was however a row of drawers set aside for known mutants. The first two drawers were all for lower class mutants, with weaker abilities. There were only a few names he recognized, mostly just mutants with visible mutations and no other powers, like that Toad boy he had encountered on more than one occasion with the Brotherhood.

"_Merde." _An alarm rang above his head and Remy swore, there was still one drawer he needed to go through. Footsteps pounded from outside the door and voices could be heard yelling throughout the corridor.

Remy grabbed what he was able, shoving the contents into his coat and bag; he would need his hands free to fight his way out.

A/N- Ugh. I have the spacey-est teacher ever. Seriously, what teacher decides to give a _five page _exam on a Thursday with no warning or preparation? I bet half my class is failing now.:(Anyways, I'm really bad at planning ahead for stories and have no idea where this is going. Sorry. But the upside is I have a break coming up in two weeks, and will probably have chapters posted more frequently, and maybe even finish it up.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

Rogue woke up the next morning at five o'clock, after a night full of tossing and turning. The mere thought of his cocky grin made her face warm. She'd decided to get some coffee to clear her head. Rogue hated to admit it, but she was almost certain the reason for her restless night was due to the racing thought concerning a certain red eyed mutant. When she got to the kitchen she found Mercy and Tante Mattie, both of whom had caught her before she could back out.

It was six o'clock when Remy came through the kitchen door looking battered and dead on his feet. He collapsed against the doorframe, exhaustion marring his face. A long second stretched out before any of the three moved. Tante was the first to react, ushering him to the nearest seat and pushing him down none too gently.

"What the hell happened to you!?" Mercy rushed over to the other side of the kitchen, opening up the bottom cabinets and pulling out a first aid kit.

The two older women helped tug his shirt off, leaning him back against his seat so that they could tend to him.

"Nothing," Remy tried unsuccessfully to push his Tante's hand out his face. He scowled at the bandages and protested. "It's just a few scratches, _oui?_ Dis one doesn't need any help."

Rogue stood to the side while both women helped him, unsure of what to do. He obviously didn't want any help, she would probably just get in the way anyhow. Now that she examined him closely she could tell that most of the wounds were just scratches. Only one wound looked serious, like a bullet had grazed him. His wounds weren't so serious that he was in critical need of a hospital, but he did appear to be fatigued.

Tante Mattie huffed and shoved the first aid kit into Rogue's hands. "I need to get Jean Luc, take care of the rest." Before Rogue could protest, she was out the door and out of sight. Mercy held her hands up, as Rogue gestured to the first aid kit, not offering any help.

Thinking back on past first aid courses Rogue knelt down in front of him, opening up the kit and pulling out the antiseptic. She ignored his hiss of pain and went ahead with applying the ointment. From the looks of it, most of the shallow cuts were from branches and such. Why he would be running through trees at this time of the morning she had no idea, but she doubted he was out on his morning jog.

"S'not that bad, really." Remy gave her a desperate look. She actually snorted at his expression, the kicked puppy face didn't go well with his red-on-black eyes.

"Not a chance Cajun, I don't want to have anyone on my back for not taking proper care of you." She pushed down on his bandage a bit too hard and jerked back. "Shit, I'm sorry. I sucked in health class."

He laughed, wincing as he did so. "Trust me _chere,_ Tante would not be nearly as gentle, now let me up."

Her heart fluttered at his statement. She wasn't entirely sure why, it was a true fact. "No. And if I'm so much gentler then you'd better consider yourself lucky."

Relaxing against the back of the seat, he smiled. "Well dis one supposes he should, especially when he's being tended to by such a _belle femme."_

"Oh shush."

"You know you love me."

"Do not."

Remy turned toward his sister-in-law and called out to her. "Hey Mercy, what do you think?"

Mercy caught Rogues gaze, winking. "I think you ego's over inflated is what I think." Both she and Rogue couldn't help the giggling at his gasp of disbelief.

"I thought you said there was a _serious_ problem." Jean-Luc's voice came from a few feet away. None of them had noticed the man come in, and Rogue immediately stood. His eyes quickly took in the scene before him, from where Rogue had been kneeling and laughing a moment before to where Remy still sat, now straight faced and solemn.

"Apologies, _pere._ There were a few," He faltered for a second, "Complications on the job."

Rogue's ears perked at that, what kind of complications? Now that she knew he was a thief she felt an itching need to know exactly what type of jobs he took. Did he rob banks? Jewels? Or would he steal anything, as long as he was being paid? From the way he was avoiding her gaze, she figured he wasn't going to be so forthcoming about this particular job.

"We'll discuss this in my study." And with that he turned on his heel, leaving the room in awkward silence.

_Bastard._ Rogue couldn't believe this man. Here was his son so obviously injured, and all he did't even bother to ask how he was doing? She raised an eyebrow at Mercy, who merely shrugged. Apparently the head of the Lebeau family wasn't known for his soft heart.

****

"So what did you find?"

Remy handed a stack of folders to his father, grim faced. He hadn't gone through them thoroughly, but what he'd read while in the compound was bad news.

"It's a list of names, of mutants classified as dangerous and in need of the cure."

Jean-Luc snorted at that. "I was under the impression the public considered all mutants dangerous." His brow creased, "And the cure failed only a couple of months ago, have they already updated it?"

"They do consider us all dangerous," Remy sighed, "However; the documents suggest they have a newer version of the cure under wraps."

"Then why the hell haven't they administered it yet?"His father's voice started to rise, making Remy cringe. This man's temper was legendary among the Guilds; it was what helped keep his men in line and the Assassins wary. Rarely would someone willingly induce his wrath, unless they were suicidal or incredibly foolish.

Remy knew Jean-Luc didn't want the cure administered, and not knowing why they had it and weren't using it was nerve wracking. Though according to the files, they seemed to have good reason for not distributing it publicly.

"This isn't so much a cure as a weapon in my opinion; the survival rate is only sixty-five percent."

"And how many mutants do you think will take that cure?"

Why he couldn't just read the file himself was beyond Remy. "They're not planning on making this one optional, _verifier_."

Remy leaned back and glared at the ceiling, thinking over what his father was about to read.

He'd found proof of furthering research on the cure for one with a higher survival rate, yet they were still planning on administering this dangerous version. What the officials wanted to do was make it mandatory for only a select few mutants, the `dangerous' ones. He'd no doubt they would make it mandatory for everyone if they were able. They probably would have if not for the fact that the Mutant Registration Act had recently fallen through.

Many mutants that were still under the radar took every chance they had to vote against limiting mutants rights. Remy had to give credit to a good portion of humans as well; they may not like mutants, or want them living anywhere near their own precious homes, but as Americans they seemed to have a soft spot when it came to voting and freedom. Remy could only hoped those feelings would last.

There were twenty names on that list, half of which he wasn't acquainted with. Of course there were the well-known mutants; Magneto, Jean Grey , Xavier(Both of whom had been crossed off). There were some he'd never heard of before; Raven Darkholme, Wanda Maximoff, Lorna Dane. And then there was his name. Not all of these mutants were being selected because of their strength, he saw John Allerdyce's name on there, a man not nearly as strong as Remy. They planned on taking out the threats first, the ones who were openly fighting.

"When do they plan to make their move?"

"Not sure, dis one thinks it's probably not going to be written down anywhere we can find."

"_Merde."_ His father cursed, "We should inform Ororo about this, do they have any lists containing their aliases?"

"_Non._ 'Ro may be able to help."

"Or the girls, ask them."

Remy nodded and took the folder with the list of names. Though he never considered himself to be much of a saint, he'd be damned if he was going to let anything happen to innocent mutants without at least trying to help.

A/N- Ugh. Sorry for such a long wait and short chapter, I haven't had my laptop with me. My family planned a last-minute road trip, where I got to stay in a cold basement on a cot while visiting relatives. (Including my sick and puking niece.) And I'm sorta stuck, I knew where I wanted this to go, but now I'm all lost. And I'm sorry if there are gaps in this, could you tell me if you find any?


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer- Don't own 'em.**

The only people in the world that knew both Rogue's real name and alias were Logan and the late Professor. Marie was the name of a girl she hadn't been in quite a while, though for some unknown reason, she put up with Logan calling her by it.

She'd been asked many times when first arriving at the institute, and not once did she tell her fellow classmates her true name. They'd gotten the point eventually; there were a few other students who had changed their names before arriving as well.

Not a lot of students at the mansion wanted to be associated with the parents that raised them, the pain of being tossed and labeled as a freak by the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally hurt too much. So although not everybody legally changed their name, many went by their mutant aliases while at school.

But here she was, on a piece of classified government property. That Remy had stolen.

"_Chere? _Do you recognize any of these names?"

Remy requested that the three girls come to his father's study late that afternoon. He and his father then explained that while infiltrating a government base he had coincidentally come across a list of mutants that were to be required to take the cure. Apparently they were only in possession of their human names, which were damn near useless when most of the high class mutants lived off the radar.

Now they were standing in his father's study, which was beginning to feel crowded. Remy's brother was now present and standing behind his father, his stance resembling that of a body guard. Mercy kept off to the side of her husband, grim faced.

"Umm, Rogue? May I see the list?" Kitty reached out and gently tugged the paper from Rogue's fingers, angling the paper so the both she and Jubilee could read.

It was possible that when her powers first manifested her parent's had contacted the government, but there was no way they could have known exactly what her powers were then. In fact, she couldn't see either of her parents directly contacting the government or police either way. Both were strictly religious people, she found it more likely they would contact their minister before anyone else. So how on earth did they know her real name and powers?

"Huh." Jubilee popped the gum in her mouth, something she was never without in a stressful situation. "Well I don't recognize a single name, 'cept for John. And the Prof. and Ms. Grey are already dead."

"Hey! You're on here too Remy!" Kitty smiled at him. "You must be really strong!"

Remy grinned back at the valley girl with an amused smile, "That I am." The rest of the room took a moment to glare at the arrogant man before turning their attention back to the documents.

After a few more minutes of studying the paper they still didn't recognize any more of the names, and Rogue still hadn't spoken up. She knew she should, she could be in danger, telling them she was on the list might shed some light.

Finally Jean-Luc heaved a sigh, pushing himself up from his seat. "No use staring at it any longer, doubt any of you are gonna find anything new by now."

Henri began walking around the room, collecting various papers that Jean-Luc had passed out earlier. Rogue held out a folder for him to collect, unable to pull her gaze up from the ground. She could feel her fingers shake slightly, Rogue wanted to tell them that she was on that list. That her name was written there. Somehow however, she couldn't get the words out.

She considered it her most well-kept secret, her name. It was a part of her she wanted to keep hidden from the world, a part of her she didn't ever want anyone else to know.

***

Dinner was served at eight o'clock, much later than usual on account of the circumstances. As always, Tante's cooking was delicious. Rogue was beginning to dread the thought of returning to New York, to the meals cooked in large portions with little to no flavor. Or worse, having to go back home and eat on Kitty's nights to cook.

Remy's family was as loud and rowdy as they normally were, however, there was still an underlying tension to the group. Having Remy in the family meant they kept themselves more alert on mutant matters. And when one of their one was under threat, the family watched out for each other. Rogue loved that about his family.

True, they may be a bunch of lying thieves, and Remy himself was a no-good playboy, (and there was the fact that Jean-Luc could be a heartless bastard at times) but the entire family looked out for each other when they really needed it. The only downside to this was that they had a tendency to cast aside any empathy for those outside the family.

Rogue spent the entire dinner trying to avoid Remy's gaze. She'd always been terrible liar, and it was a wonder that no one else was suspicious of the way she was acting.

The later it got, the sillier she felt. It was just a name.

***

It was a few hours after dinner that Remy lay in bed, trying to sort out a series of thoughts racing through his head.

Remy knew that Rogue was hiding something, he just wasn't sure what. He had an idea though; it was probably about the list. She seemed to pale as she read it, and he noticed a slight tremor run through her body as her eyes ran over the end of the page. Remy pulled out the paper again to read over it again.

_Peitro Maximoff_

_St. John Allerdyce_

_Remy Lebeau_

_Magneto- Alias Unknown_

_Charles Xavier_

_James Logan Howlett_

_Jean Grey_

_Nathan Grey_

_Anna Marie Darkholme_

_Wanda Maximoff_

_Betsy Braddock_

Remy only recognized three names on the list, and two of them were dead.

Tomorrow, he and his father were contacting all of their connections to the mutant community to find out some of the other's mutant aliases. It surprised Remy that his father felt the need to go all out on this, but he supposed that it was for Ororo.

He didn't know exactly what kind of relationship they used to have, however he'd never heard his father say a bad word against her--at least not seriously.

Sighing, he rolled over to set it on the end table. It was almost midnight, Remy figured he should get some rest, tomorrow was going to be a busy day. He turned off the light and settled in to sleep; it didn't take long before he began to drift off.

It wasn't long before his questioning thoughts regarding Rogue's behavior turned to thoughts concerning her eyes and mouth, and the way her lips quirked up at her friend's antics. To the way she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, not realizing that he was aware she was watching.

She'd been warming up to him these past few days, he thought drowsily. Though he loved a challenge, his _chere _brought infuriating to a new level.

A creak from his door made Remy jump up; reaching over to his nightstand for a weapon he kept in the drawer.

"Remy?" A soft southern voice called out. His little River Rat was right at the door.

To Remy, a girl coming to him at this time of the night could only mean one thing. He relaxed his posture, leaning over to flick the bedside back on.

A cocky grin made its way up his face. "Yes, _Chere?"_

A/N- *Sighs* Halloween. I was considering going trick or treating (which probably would have been my last year, considering I'm 16), then my friend gets the flu. And _then_ my other friend invites me to a rave, and I seriously consider going, but noo, my mother (who was supposed to be going out) decides to get sick too, so there's no way I can get out… So here's the new chapter. *Sighs* I've never been to a rave… And these chapters are getting shorter, aren't they..?


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

It was around midnight that Rogue finally got up the courage to tell someone her name was on the list.

It said a lot that the first person she went to was Remy, though she tried to ignore the implications. Had she felt like putting up with the excitement that the revealing of her secret would have inevitably brought to the girls, she would have gone to them.

And Jean-Luc was out of the question, he scared the life out of her.

So she went to Remy's room. After a few bouts of almost-knocking-then-turning-back she finally just opened his door.

"Remy?" She called out, trying to see into his dark room.

A light clicked on from his bedside and she was able to see him give her a smug smile. "Yes, _Chere?"_

It was then that Rogue realized the implications of her coming to him at this hour. Here she was, a girl he had once almost had done it with, coming to him late at night when everybody else was asleep. The man probably thought she wanted to finish what they had started last week!

"It's not what you think!" She blurted out, stepping further into his room. "I'm not here for_, you know_." She waved her hand, to implicate what she meant.

His smile immediately dimmed, "Then, what exactly _are _you here for _mon _River Rat?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it, "My name's there. On the list." Like ripping off a band aid, just get it over with.

His dimming smile turned to a frown, and he patted at the mattress beside him. "Come here, what do you mean?"

Rogue walked forwards into the room, purposely sitting in a chair at least four feet away from him. She stared down at her hands, bare of their usual gloves. "I didn't mention it before 'cause Kitty and Jubilee don't know my name, my real name, I mean."

Realization flickered in his eyes and he picked up a paper sitting on top of his end table, she assumed it was the list of names. He read over the list, glancing up at her every few seconds, trying to figure out which name belonged to her.

"You don't really look like a Wanda, _chere, _so I'm guessing you're a Betsy or an Anna Marie."

She nodded, "Anna Marie."

Almost immediately after she said it she felt her body sag in relief. It wasn't so big a deal, now that some else knew. And it would help that she told him, they needed to know everyone's names if they were going to try to prevent involuntary injections of the cure.

***

She definitely wasn't here for what he wanted her to be here for, but this was almost as important.

Remy really hadn't expected her name to be on the list, he supposed it was because for as sarcastic and mean she could be to him; he would never classify her as a hostile mutant. Or at least not one who harbored ill intentions towards humans. He, on the other hand, never attacked humans for _being _humans but had on occasion been forced to use violence when a job went awry.

The fact that she'd never even told her two best friends her real name showed how hard it must be for her to tell someone now. Remy couldn't imagine not having a family who knew his real name. And that's what those girls were to Rogue, Anna Marie. She'd lived at the mansion for years, surrounded by others like her. Why she wouldn't tell them, the people she could trust the most, was beyond him.

"So no one else knows this?" He questioned, trying to meet her eyes. She wouldn't look him in the face, instead she was keeping her gaze somewhere over his shoulder.

She squirmed in the chair she sat in, "Logan knows, and the Professor did too."

Remy moved over to the edge of his bed, reaching over to grasp her hands. He would have to tell his father and the others in the morning, which he was sure that would be even harder on her.

"_Chere,_" He said softly, and she brought her face up to look at him. Her eyes were watery, and she was biting her bottom lip.

She hugged him then, taking Remy by surprise.

It said a lot that she came to him first; he didn't have the slightest clue as to _why_ she would come to him though. They barely knew each other. Either way, she was here now hugging him and attempting not to cry. For some reason it meant the world to him that she was here, trusting him with this secret.

Remy wanted to get to know her more, to have her come to him with her secrets when she didn't actually _have _to tell them to someone. Right now they were in a love-hate relationship, with her switching back and forth between smiling and flirting with him to giving him death glares when he hadn't even done anything.

She was practically sitting in his lap now, he'd been forced to scoot back to accommodate her. As much as he hated to admit it, he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with their position. He would like to pretend he was a man who could put aside all urges when faced with a crying _belle_, but he was a ladies' man to the end, and he couldn't ignore his growing tension.

Rogue must have noticed that tension because she slowly pulled away from him, moving over to sit next to him on the side of his bed.

***

Remy wasn't wearing a shirt.

It was all she could think about. The scratches from the other day were healed; the only injury left was the bullet wound. It seemed a little fast for him to be healed but she shrugged it off. He was a mutant, weirder things had happened.

She wondered how many hours he spent working out. All of the teens at the mansion endured hours of danger room sessions a week, though none of the boys there looked anywhere near as good as Remy. All he wore was a pair of grey sweats, so she could clearly see his toned upper body. He had a six pack and biceps to die for, she'd only seen one other man with muscles like that and it had been Logan. Obviously, there was a difference in her reaction to the two.

He was admiring her too. Since she left her room knowing she wouldn't have to worry about draining anyone dry, she'd worn pajama pants and a tank top. Not in four years had she worn so little clothing.

Her eyes traveled up to his mouth, there were only three people she'd ever kissed and he was the only one that she hadn't almost killed. She leaned towards him, wanting another kiss.

He tasted like bourbon, and his lips were soft against her own. She parted his lips for him and he pressed against her as his tongue explored her mouth. She responded to him eagerly, wanting, needing more touch. He was moving her more towards the center of the bed, and she wasn't resisting. She loved the feel of his chest under her hands.

It felt so good to touch someone, anyone, after such a long time of watching others around her have fun. Her friends didn't notice what they were doing to her. They never tried to touch her knowing how much she hated it, but they touched each other with casual hugs and handshakes. Logan would hug her sometimes, and she welcomed it knowing he could recover from any incidents that might occur quickly.

With these thoughts came the realization that she was probably responding to him so passionately _because _he was the only person she'd ever been able to touch. And that thought brought her to a halt.

"Remy." She brought a hand up to his chest. He was above her now, and her tank top had been pushed up further so that he could touch her more.

"Hmm?' He pulled back to look at her, "Something wrong, _chere?"_

"I can't." Rogue felt her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry."

She shoved him off, pulling down her shirt and leaping off the bed.

She hurried to the door, pausing only to mutter another apology. "See you in the morning."

Rogue made her way to Jubilee's room, needing a shoulder to cry on.

Her friend opened the door on Rogues fourth frantic knock, rubbing her eyes. She straightened up when she saw her friends' state, opening the door wide to let her friend in, careful not to touch any poisonous skin.

Rogue spilled everything then. Her real name, why she never used it, how the first boy she ever kissed ended up in a coma for who knows how long. How her parents 'strongly' suggested that she leave after that. How she couldn't bear to hear her name without thinking back to the wonderful human life she had held once in Caldecott, Mississippi.

Jubilee gave her a sweater, then held her as close as she was able. After Rogue had calmed down a bit she got up to retrieve Kitty from their room to help comfort their friend. A quart of ice cream later (stolen from the kitchen by Kitty) she felt much better and the three girls made the most of the night. Turning on the TV they switched the channels to different scifi and horror movies, avoiding any and all romance genres.

A/N- Weird turn of events I know, but I just felt like it. Oh, and I doubt I'll ever update again this soon, sorry. Btw, I get the feeling I'm going to be grounded soon, so it might take longer than usual for the next chapter. (I blame math classes and my scary school director)


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer- Don't own 'em.**

"Okay, so Betsy Braddock goes by Psylocke, so you can cross her off the list."

"How come?" Rogue looked up at Remy, puzzled.

"She says she doesn't need any help, _chere."_

Remy's eyes met hers and she immediately glanced down at the paper in her hands. "Right, well, her own damn fault if she gets hurt."

First of all, Remy had been acting politely all morning. Other than the occasional pet name, he had been keeping any and all lewd remarks to himself. Rogue was assuming it was out of cautiousness, after all, she had a way of turning on him.

In return, Rogue had decided to be as nice as was possible-for her- to him. But this normalcy was somehow making her all the more uncomfortable, leaving awkward silences where they would usually be bantering.

_He's probably just trying to get into your pants; if I were you I'd torch him. Just take a lighter and shove it-_

Rogue pushed away John's thoughts; they had been coming back more now that she'd been thinking about him.

As for Remy, it helped that the entire household was suddenly submerged in work, and that neither of the two had much time for more than passing glances.

Right now they were about halfway through the list of names, with most of the mutants accounted for. Most of them were being moved to the mansion, where they would stay until the whole `cure' thing blew over. When that would be, however, Rogue had no idea.

Surprisingly, tracking down and finding safe house for the other mutants on the list wasn't that difficult. Nathan Grey had been a friend of Xavier's, and had even visited the mansion a few times.

No one really knew what to do about John, so an anonymous phone call to the brotherhood member was placed in hopes that he would have somewhere to go.

The biggest surprise was finding out that Logan was on the list. Shortly after Kitty contacted the school, Logan called Rogue to tell her that, on his latest trip, he had found his real name. Apparently he'd been keeping it under wraps, mulling it over himself before announcing it to the world.

Now all they needed was Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.

Something about the names rang a bell in Rogue's head, like she'd heard the names before. No matter how much she tried though, she couldn't figure out where she'd heard of them. So Kitty had been put to the task of obtaining pictures.

"Hey _chica, _you got anything on our John and Jane Doe's?" Jubilee asked her friend, hopping up on the desk in front of her. She was referring to Wanda and Pietro. She smacked her lips at Rogue, giving her an unpleasant view of the bubblegum in her mouth.

Rogue rolled her eyes at her friend. "We've already got their names genius; they aren't John or Jane Doe's."

"Hmph." Jubilee kicked her legs impatiently, "Well they shouldn't be this hard to find, whoever they are. By the way, Kitty says she's taking a break."

At that, Rogue groaned, "We _need_ those pictures!"

"I know, I know. And I told her, but," The girl paused to blow a bubble, "We've been working for hours, and we need food." At Rogue's exasperated expression she added, "And we'll work _way_ faster once we have food in our stomachs."

Rogue looked down at her own stomach, listening to it growl, and nodded her agreement. "Some food wouldn't kill me."

***

"Ah man, Tante, you've gotta come to the X-mansion and cook for us!" Jubilee said to the older woman. "Seriously, no one there can cook!"

Rogue laughed at her friends antics and sat down on the couch opposite of her. The dining table was covered in paper, so they'd opted for eating in the family room.

Rogue wasn't entirely sure eating in the living room was a good idea. The living room, like every other part of the house, was decorated extravagantly, and she didn't know what she'd do if something was spilled or knocked over.

Since they'd gotten here, there had already been a few accidents. A couple of broken plates that had slipped _through _Kitty's hands while washing grass out back from where Jubilee was showing off her power…

Staring at her bowl of soup, she wondered if she should just go throw it out. She wasn't that hungry anyways.

"No worries _chere, _there's nothing here we can't replace."

Rogue let out a gasp and looked to her side, just now noticing the Cajun sitting next to her. He was giving her an understanding smile.

"How'd you..?"

"When dis one first came here, he was about eight, and filthy as a rat. He was afraid to even sit down."

"Really?" She couldn't imagine Remy as being anything other than the charming, confident man sitting next to her. Even in the family portraits he never appeared as anything less than smug.

"_Oui,"_ He smiled, "Remy was straight off the streets. Took a couple of weeks to get all the dirt outta dis one. _Tante _here had to force me to sit down on this couch."

Rogue set the bowl of soup down in front of her. "I still don't think I can eat. I'm too anxious."

"That's reasonable enough." He responded, and then surprised her by taking her hand. "How about Remy finds a way to relax you?"

"Swamp-"

"Not that kind of relaxation, _chere. _Though you're welcome anytime."

Huffing, Rogue gave him the look he deserved, but didn't take her hand away. Holding Remy's hand was… nice.

"Fine swamp rat, what do you have in mind?"

A/N- I'm sooorry!!! It's short and it's been forever! I've had one family emergency after another. It doesn't look like anything is going to settle soon though, so I figured I'd just stay up and finish this. Oh, and I know it seems kinda weird, choosing not to eat because you don't want to spill or break anything, but I've definitely been in that situation before and it _sucks._ And I know the chapters are getting shorter, but I just don't have any inspiration.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer- I do not now, nor have I ever owned these characters.**

"This is your idea of relaxation, Swamp Rat?" Rogue examined the dimly lit club before her. "'Cause if you're looking to get me wasted you're shit outta luck."

Remy let out a gasp and feigned hurt. "Dis one wouldn't think of such a thing"

Rogue arched an eyebrow at the Cajun.

"Well, a few drinks might help a bit _chere."_ He added after a moment of hesitation.

Rogue rolled her eyes. So this is what he had in mind. A night out clubbing. At first she had thought he planned on taking her out somewhere nice, because he asked her to wear nice clothes, though not necessarily a dress. But then he invited along the Emil and the girls as well. She should have known.

Although clubs weren't her thing, (the whole "touching" thing usually turned her off) this one seemed to be pretty decent.

There were windows lining the tops of the walls, letting in a cool breeze. Meaning she would probably be able to stay covered the whole night without overheating, which could happen easily in any other club with what she was wearing.

Right now she had on a pair of acid wash skinny jeans that Kitty lent her for the night; they were a little too tight for her taste, but both the girls had insisted she looked amazing in them. For the top she wore a rich red halter top that showed through her open leather jacket, and though it wasn't one of her favorite colors, she thought it looked good with her hair. And her leather gloves and boots went well with the outfit, even if they were meant for a colder season.

"Oh, this place is, like, awesome!"Kitty squealed, already swaying and synchronizing with the beat of the music.

Jubilee grinned at Remy, "So you wanna buy me a drink Remy? The bartenders here look like they might actually notice that my id is fake."

Rogue's friend was having a blast already, she could tell. They'd been in the club less than ten minutes and she'd already made some pretty decent eye contact with a few club goers. Rogue didn't doubt she'd have one buying her drinks soon.

Both of her friends wandered off, and Rogue had lost track of Emil almost immediately after they arrived.

Now it was just her and Remy, and she was beginning to feel awkward.

"Wanna dance, _chere?"_ Remy cocked his head towards the mass of swaying bodies on the dance floor.

Rogue cringed, maybe this wasn't such a good idea; regular dancing she could handle, but this was…not that. She could barely describe it without blushing. Everyone on the dance floor was touching, whether it was with their dance partner or not. Most moved with a carefree grace and seductiveness that Rogue envied.

When she first arrived at the club she had actually been sort of excited. The club was nice, and with the cool breeze she figured she could dance comfortably and have fun. But now that she thought about it, she would be dancing with Remy. _Remy_.

Rogue didn't think she had the ability to dance the way the people were dancing with him.

Sure, she'd done it before, but that was when she had had revenge on her mind. That and she spent the whole time they danced trying to find his wallet.

***

Remy watched as worry began to lines Rogue's face.

At first, it appeared to him that she was happy with the place he had chosen, but now he wasn't so sure. In his opinion she needed to loosen up, and this was the best way possible.

She was currently examining her gloves, making a point of avoiding his gaze. Her hair swept over her bent head and it dawned on him that she probably didn't go to these places often.

The poisonous skin seemed to put a damper on things.

… But they had danced in a place like this before.

Remy shook his head; this _femme_ confused the hell out of him.

Getting an idea, Remy grabbed Rogue's hand and led her towards the dance floor.

***

Rogue's heart started racing and she tugged at her hand, trying to escape from Remy's grasp.

"Look Swamp Rat, I appreciate," Rogue shouted over the music, "You trying to cheer us all up, being all nice and bringing us here, I just really don't-" She gave a sharp tug at her hand, pulling it free. "Want to dance!"

At the loss of her hand Remy turned around to face her.

"You say something?" He shouted, and she could tell he was straining his voice.

"I said-" She stopped herself, he obviously wasn't able to hear her.

Instead she settled for glaring at him and making a gesture towards the dancers around them.

Remy grabbed her hand again, this time waving towards the other side of the club. She let him lead her, it didn't seem like they were going to dance.

As they made their way out of the swarm of bodies she noticed a small doorway at the back wall. It looked like it was lit better than the room they were currently in, and Rogue realized that that was where he was leading her.

"Oh." Rogue felt a small smile tug at her lips, it was a pool room.

If there was one thing in this world she was good at, it was pool. It had been a constant in her life since she was child, from the pool table down in the basement of her parents house, to the late nights playing with John and Bobby.

Remy guided her closer to him, bringing a gloved hand up to his mouth for a chaste kiss. "How about a game of pool_?"_

Rogue gave him the grin he deserved, not even commenting on the kiss."Sure."

He grinned back at her and turned to grab their pool ques. "You wanna break_, chere_?"

She nodded and leaned over to hit the ball, ignoring the fact that he was eying her up from behind. She hit the ball strongly in the center, watching as two went in. "Striped."

The game went on smoothly,with the two of them easily exchanging snarky comments.

By the end of the night, Rogue felt herself becoming more and more fond of Remy Lebeau.

A/N- Ack. Forgive me, life's been hectic. But I'm feeling very inspired lately, so you can expect many more updates. Oh, and I started a blog, just in case anyone cares, the link's on my profile. And my next update lookks like it'll be longer than they have been lately. :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer- Not mine.**

Rogue woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. She hadn't shut the curtains the night before, so the sun was shining into the room, dancing brightly on her face.

Last night was wonderful. She'd been able to fully relax for the first time in a long time. Remy had almostbeen a perfect gentleman, and stayed with her the whole time they were at the club. She was appreciative of that, because other than him, she was the only one not dancing.

It also gave her a chance to brush up on her pool-playing skills, seeing as she hadn't gotten a chance to play in a while, due to all the drama around the mansion.

Rogue sat up and hurried out of bed, she was ready to start her day, not at all groggy like she usually was. She felt strangely light.

Maybe Remy was already up, and in the kitchen, she thought. They could eat breakfast together and chat for a while; he always seemed to have something fun to talk about. Chances were if there wasn't anything pressing or any new news on the registration he would want to go out again, because he'd mentioned it the night before. That would be nice.

_Shit._

Rogue's face went slack. She was couldn't believe she was thinking this way about him.

But… It was okay. Deep down, she was sure Remy had a good heart. He may be a thief, but he certainly thought of others.

No matter, Rogue took her time getting ready now; it wouldn't do any good to get worked up. Even if it was over a guy.

That, and now that she realized she was seriously thinking of him in that way, she felt the need to put more effort into her appearance, which she rarely did unless it was for a special occasion.

"Hey Rogue?" Jubilee voice came through the door, accompanied by a knock. "You awake?"

Rogue walked over to the door, opening it and letting her friend in. "Yep, you wanna help me with something?"

"Sure."

Her friend looked at her curiously, and Rogue noticed that she'd been fidgeting with her hair. "I like Remy."

"I know."

"What?" She gave her friend a confused glance. "But I didn't like him until last night Jubes."

"Oh yes you did _chica, _you were just too caught up in hating him to notice."

"But-"

"Nope!" Jubilee held her hand up to shush her friend. "You can't say that you didn't like him any, I mean you flirt all the time, and you've almost had sex. I figure that's got to count for something."

That shut Rogue up. It was true, but until now she'd just assumed it was because she was able to touch him, and nothing more than lust.

She didn't know if this made her feel better or worse.

"… Okay, you have a point. Now what should I wear?"

***

Remy stared as Rogue walked into the dining room; she wore a long sleeved green shirt that almost reached her thighs, its top cut off, leaving her shoulders bare, along with black leggings and converse. It was the most skin Remy had ever seen on her in public.

She smiled at him when they caught each other's eyes, and after she'd retrieved a glass of orange juice she came to sit down next to him.

"Hey there Swamp Rat, how's your day been so far?"

"Can't say, _chere._ I've only been up for about a half hour or so. Although," He added, winking at her, "It's much better now that I've seen your _beau_ face."

He grinned as a blush rose up her face, and she turned away from his gaze. He loved to fluster her, and see the way his words affected her.

"How original." She straightened up, "You got a nifty little handbook for all these phrases?"

"Don't need one, I'm just that good."

"Uh-huh."

"Hey there Rogue, Remy." Mercy entered the kitchen. "I have work for you both."

Remy grimaced at his sister-in-law, "More research? Mercy, I don't think we're going to get much more info, we've already found way more than expected."

"So you're just content to leave it at that, and assume that's all there is? You lazy ass."

Across from him Rogue covered her mouth, obviously suppressing a giggle.

***

Rogue laughed as Mercy and Remy bantered. This was the one thing she adored about families, their ability to say whatever they pleased while knowing neither of them would take offense at the other's insults.

It was something that she'd begun to realize she had with her own makeshift family, like with Logan. She realized now that he took crap from her that no one else in the mansion would get away with. And Jubilee was just hard to insult period. She still couldn't believe she had people that loved her this way, it warmed her heart.

"Rogue?"

"Huh?"

The two of them were staring at her, she'd obviously missed something.

"I was asking you what your opinion was Rogue," Mercy addressed her. "Don't you agree that _this,"_ She pointed at Remy, "Man is one of the laziest people you've ever known."

"Well I don't know, he seems to put a lot of time into his appearance. That's got to take some effort."

The women went silent for a moment as they thought about it.

"So not lazy, just not very motivated."

"Hey, I'm plenty motivated!" Remy protested. "Let me at that research Mercy, I'll show you who's lazy!"

With that, he stood up and left the room, headed for his father's office. Mercy waited until he'd left the room to turn to Rogue.

"It's kinda sad that I can still use that trick on him." She said to Rogue, and left in the same direction that he had.

Rogue smiled softly, and got up to make herself breakfast. She'd been eating fairly well lately, but this morning she would settle for some toast and jam.

"Why are you eating so little, _fille?_ You need more food than that to fill you up."

Startled, Rogue stopped eating to greet Tante Mattie. "Oh no, that's all right, this is enough to fill me up."

"The hell it is, go get the eggs out of the fridge."

Rogue obediently retrieved the eggs, setting them on the counter. She found it near impossible to disobey the older woman; she had a commanding air about her that Rogue admired.

***

Shortly after Tante started preparing breakfast, Kitty and Jubilee joined them. Apparently Jubilee had informed Kitty about her newest revelations regarding Remy, because she would _not _stop sending weird looks in her direction. By the time they finished breakfast, Rogue wanted to lock the girl up somewhere and throw away the key. Even if it wouldn't hold her long.

"So what are we doing today?" Jubilee passed Rogue a clean wet plate, and she took it with the towel.

"Research. Remy's working on it now, and I've been procrastinating."

"Oh? Don't you want to spend more time with—ow!"

Rogue elbowed her friend and sent a pointed look in Tante's direction, where she stood chopping vegetables for a stew she was making.

"No."

The doorbell rang then, and after a few seconds, rang again. Tante humphed, "And of course everyone's too lazy to get the door."

"I'll go get it ma'am" Rogue replied, drying her hands.

For reasons unknown to her, she felt comfortable enough in the Lebeau's home to answer the doorbell. The front door was large, and she had to stand on her tiptoes to see through the peephole. It was a small, petite woman, and Rogue backed away to open the door.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"Ah," The woman appeared surprised to see Rogue, most likely expecting one of the Lebeau's to open the door. "Who are you?"

"I'm a guest of the Lebeau's."

"I see." She gave Rogue a half smile. "Then I suppose we'll need you as well." She flicked her hand over her head.

"What-"

Rogue wasn't able to finish her question before she was knocked out.

A/N- Crazy right? Me actually updating this fast. And it feels like the story's actually going somewhere. I'm sorry if there are grammatical/ spelling errors, I suck at proofreading. Oh, and I recently found out that my biological father is from Louisiana, I'm not sure where my bio mom was/is from, but I think it's the south or east. Which is crazy because I'm so Californian it's not even funny. Random, I know, but Louisiana just seems so far away.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer-Not miiine.**

"Wake Up."

Rogue's head swam as she struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding painfully, making coherent thought near impossible.

"Get up, _Marie."_ The voice speaking to her sounded bitter, angry, and… familiar?

Grimacing, she pushed herself into an upright position, whatever was wrong with her, it felt ten times worse than her usual hangover. What the hell had happened? The last thing she remembered was breakfast at the Lebeau estate, but nothing after that.

Finally she opened her eyes, wincing at the brightness invading her senses.

She was in a small room flooded with light from the florescent bulbs above her. The walls and floor were a sterile white, the color that many hospitals were painted. The sheets on the bed were also white, and the only thing that gave away that the room was not a part of a hospital was that she appeared to be on the bottom part of a metal bunk bed. A fairly uncomfortable bunk bed at that. Rogue leaned over and peered up at the top bunk to see who was talking to her.

"Long time no see."

Rogue's eyes met with a pair of hostile brown ones, and she took in the other mutants bleached hair and memorable sneer.

"John."

"It's Pyro."

Rogue rolled her eyes, same old John. "Where are we?" She asked.

"You would know better than me; last I heard you were snooping around in the governments mutant business."

"So that's what this is? Some sort of government facility?"

"Yes. No. Shit, Rogue, how the hell should I know?"

She wracked her brain, trying to sort through any information and details that might help her figure out where she was.

Were the others somewhere in this place too? Rogue doubted that whoever had taken her would have just taken her, and not Jubilee and Kitty as well. She wondered what they had done to Tante Mattie and the other non mutants in the house, and a cold feeling brushed over her. Surely they were all right, injured maybe, but what would these people do if they didn't want anyone to know what happened?

_No. They're a strong family_, Rogue reassured herself. No one would be taken down that easily.

"Jo—Pyro, how long have you been here?" She might as well gather as much information as possible.

The bed creaked as Pyro moved from his top bunk to her bottom one. Scooching back to make room for him on her mattress, Rogue stare at him inquisitively.

He was much paler than she remembered him, and much skinnier. The John she had always known was perfectly tanned, muscular, and cocky. Which of course, was what had help get him in trouble many a times, after all, who could resist a guy like that? But the Pyro sitting in front of her now seemed to be a remnant of that boy. Sure, he was still fit and he still held himself as arrogantly as usual. But his trademark smirk seemed to be a façade, and his eyes were ringed with physical and mental exhaustion.

_Oh John, what have you gone through to make you like this?_

_A/N-_ Ha. I updated. Only like 500 words, but the document's just been sitting there for the past year, so why not?


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